Flawed Heroes
by Calefe
Summary: After the Giant War is over, Hera decides that the Seven heroes need to learn more about each other- specifically, their fatal flaws. So, of course, she unleashes a personification of each of their fatal flaws upon them, because that's exactly how you learn more about your friends. At least, in the demigod world, it is. (Appearance by Nico) *Rated T, includes all canon couples*
1. Seeing Double

**Here it is!**

 **Dedicated to WillowDream M, who is amazing. Check out her (? did I get that right?) stories!**

 **This can be read individually or as a sequel to my other fic "Tensions". There are a few mentions of that fic, but you don't need to read it to be able to understand this one. (I encourage you to do so, though...)**

 **I don't know how many chapters this will be, but probably around the same as Tensions. There will be chapters in all of the Seven's POVs. I will tell you guys when I'll update the next chapter at the bottom A/N.**

Piper

Piper was seriously beginning to regret her decision to sleep in. She sat up in her bed, yawning drowsily. All was well until she couldn't find her favorite jacket—a new one Jason had bought for her from New Rome. She was _pretty_ sure that it was in her closet, but… well, it was Aphrodite's cabin. Of _course_ they had to have magical closets. Regular closets were probably too dull or boring. Piper couldn't really complain, though; it sure saved a lot of time and effort on buying clothes, which Piper _did not_ have the required patience for. (It had still taken some time to teach the closet that _no,_ she didn't want to wear a ball gown to train or climb the lava wall—or any time, really.) Anyway, knowing Aphrodite, the jacket had probably been taken out so that it could be dry-cleaned or something. Piper had even told her cabin mates to go to breakfast and training without her, so now she was stuck.

 _First-world problems,_ she thought ruefully. _Or rather, first-world demigod problems._ Piper smiled wryly. Luckily, Jason was at Camp Jupiter, finalizing plans for a minor god's shrine, so he wouldn't see her problem. She missed him, but he would be coming back the next day anyway. And it would be kind of embarrassing to admit that she couldn't work her closet. But Leo was still at camp. Piper was pretty sure that the closet had some sort of mechanical aspect to it, so she could just ask Leo to help her. She refused to ask any of her half-siblings for help; doing that would just give Drew more ammunition against her. Not that anyone actually paid attention to Drew anymore, but still.

Piper pulled on something else—her old snowboarding jacket—and headed out of her cabin, humming a tune contently. It was nice to not be fighting for her life, on a quest, or being kidnapped by a psychopath goddess. Or course, thinking that probably jinxed her.

"Hey, Annabeth, Percy," she greeted the couple cheerfully as they passed her on the way to the Hephaestus cabin. Percy nodded at her, and Annabeth smiled in greeting. They both slept in the Poseidon cabin now, since dreams (well, more like nightmares) of Tartarus plagued them nearly every night. They also spent a lot of time fighting straw dummies in the arena now… apparently, that helped. Piper wasn't sure how that worked, but whatever. If it helped, it helped; she wasn't going to complain.

As Piper approached the Hephaestus cabin, she spotted a familiar head of black hair—Percy. _That's weird; I just saw him passing the other way!_ She called out a greeting, but he didn't seem to hear her, so Piper shrugged. _Maybe he forgot something._ As she looked on, Percy disappeared behind another cabin.

The funny thing was, he seemed… taller, and was even wearing different clothes than a few moments before. He'd been wearing a plain, sea-green T-shirt and jeans. But now, he was in a Camp Half-Blood shirt and athletic shorts. _How did Percy change so quickly?_ Piper wondered, but she dismissed it. There _was_ a new demigod in camp that kind of looked like Percy. _That must be it._

When Piper reached Cabin Nine and knocked on the gleaming bronze door of the Hephaestus Cabin, it immediately swung open on well-oiled hinges, revealing a fully-dressed Harley, Leo's youngest half-sibling. He looked like he was getting ready to head out to the forges. He looked up at her, and she couldn't help but note his clothing— _(Thanks, Mom, that'll totally save my life in battle some day!)_ Harley had on an oversized military jacket draped around his shoulders, utility pants, combat boots, and a (normal) tool belt. Piper couldn't help it: internally, she squealed as she recognized Leo's old military jacket. _That really is cute._

"Hi, Harley!" she smiled. "Is Leo here?"

Harley nodded seriously. "He gave me his jacket to hold all my stuff before he went to the forge, but Chris said he saw Leo here. He must've come back. But my tool belt isn't big enough," he grumbled and crossed his arms. "I wish _I_ had a magic tool belt."

Piper bit her lip to keep from laughing, and she ruffled his hair fondly. "Where is he?"

"In his private room, below his bunk," Piper widened her eyes in surprise. _They have underground, private rooms?!_ Harley must have been used to this reaction, because he said in a bored monotone,

"Yeah, we have underground, private rooms. I'll show you," he led Piper into the middle of the cabin, and to, presumably, Leo's bunk. Piper didn't see how Leo could even sleep on his bed (maybe he didn't)—it was completely covered by bits of scrap metal, screwdrivers, a broken sword, and other half-finished projects. A foldable wall/divider was half-torn off of its hinges in what was probably a fit of frustration. Piper glanced around curiously, and to her surprise, most of the other bunks looked like Leo's although they had more personal touches than the fire-user's.

Harley pressed something on the wall, and suddenly, Piper was shooting downwards at breakneck pace. The block of floor she stood on was moving down—then sideways—until finally, Piper was deposited in a whole other room. But that didn't surprise Piper as much as the room's sole occupant.

He was Leo… but he wasn't Leo. Well, he _looked_ like Leo, but he _couldn't_ be Leo. He— _I'm confusing myself, but this is really confusing…_

The demigod was tinkering with some tools, sitting against a wall, but had dropped them in surprise when Piper came in. He made no move to pick them up, instead, he pulled out other tools. _Leo._ He had Leo's curly hair and elfish ears, and most of his facial features. _Leo._ But he was at least a couple of inches shorter than Leo, who was already pretty short. _Not Leo._ He also had a sort of… depressed aura around him, unlike Leo, who was usually cheerful. Even if Leo wasn't feeling particularly well, he would still put on a smile, or joke around. This "Leo" wasn't doing either. _Not Leo._

Before Piper could take in any more details, she had the Not-Leo pinned against the wall, with her knife barely an inch away from his heart. "Who—are—you?" she growled. "And where's Leo?!" Her voice trembled. If he had done anything to Leo…

The Not-Leo furrowed his eyebrows. "I _am_ Leo!" he protested, and Piper froze. He had an accent—a faint accent, but still an accent. It was slightly southern, and partially Spanish. _That's what Leo sounded like at the start of the Wilderness School!_ Piper rolled her eyes, trying to disguise her shock and sudden fear.

"Prove it!" she demanded, not really expecting him to do anything. But to her utter amazement, the Not-Leo-But-Leo held out a hand and, as she watched, a flame danced on his fingertips before he blew it out, leaving him completely unhurt by the fire.

Piper dropped her weapon and stepped back. She looked at him more closely. He was definitely shorter than Leo, and the accent was different. He had on a military-style jacket— _Hey, isn't Harley wearing that?_ —along with dirty jeans that had a hole in the right knee. He wore brown suspenders and a coffee-stained white shirt. Leo hated coffee. And his shoes—Piper had never seen Leo wearing those, besides at the Wilderness School. They were scuffed work boots that looked too big for the Not-Leo. "But—you're _shorter._ Wh—"

Before either demigod could say anything else, a blond blur burst in from the entrance chute, dragging— _Is that two Percy's?_ —two people behind her. It was Annabeth. And… two Percy's…

"What in Hades is going on?" she panted, releasing the two almost-identical dark-haired boys from her tight grip as Piper looked on in shock. "Percy and I were in the arena, and then _another_ Percy just popped up out of nowhere!" Like the Not-Leo, one of the Percy's was shorter than the other. However, it seemed like the shorter one was the _real_ Percy. The Not-Percy was at least three inches taller, had broader shoulders, and had a confident air around him. His expression was determined (for what, Piper had no idea) and he had his jaw set forward. His sea-green eyes were somehow more piercing than the real Percy's. Suddenly, it struck Piper— _this is the Percy I saw on the way here!_ Sure enough, he was wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt and gray gym shorts, along with a pair of hiking boots. Piper could almost imagine a cape fluttering behind him.

On the other hand, the real Percy was wearing an expression of complete bewilderment, and kept pinching himself in the arm and rubbing his eyes. He wore a green shirt that matched his eye color perfectly and a pair of jeans. Instead of hiking boots, Percy wore black combat boots that were caked with dry mud and pieces of straw—probably from the arena. Annabeth also had on combat boots (but hers were brown) and jeans, but she had on a Boston T-shirt that she'd recently gotten from a trip to visit her cousin.

Piper glanced from the Not-Leo to Annabeth to Not-Percy to Percy. "Uh…" she started, then stopped. _What is someone supposed to say in this situation?_ "Let's get out of here and talk to Chiron… or Mr. D…" she managed to say before pinching herself. Hard. If they were all somehow having a mass hallucination, Dionysus would be able to help.

The other demigods nodded, seeming equally stunned, although Annabeth kept glancing back and forth between Not-Percy and Percy and muttering something that sounded a lot like "There's _got_ to be a logical explanation… there _must_ be…"

The first thing Piper saw when she and the others emerged into the sunlight of the camp was herself. Except, like the Not-Leo and Not-Percy, _different._ This Piper— _gods,_ that sounded weird—was the same height as Piper, but had hunched shoulders and a tense demeanor. She also kept glancing around warily and suspiciously (although there was no one around; everyone was most likely already training), and Piper noticed that she had heavy bags under her eyes. (Piper touched her own face in surprise.) The Not-Piper also had changing eye colors, like Piper, but they changed _very_ rapidly—in just a moment, Piper saw dark blue, hazel, light brown, purple ( _what?)_ , light green, and dark grey eyes, flickering quickly. _I hope my eyes don't look like that…_ She also wore heavy combat armor.

"We _really_ should go to the Big House now…" Percy trailed off as another demigod appeared in front of them.

It was Leo—thankfully, the _real_ Leo. He looked panicked, and kept blinking and shaking his head. _Gods, thank the gods! He's his normal height again!_ Piper quickly took in his appearance: he was his normal height, had disheveled hair, grease stains all over, and was wearing a faded Camp T-shirt, red suspenders, cargo pants, and dirty sneakers (along with his tool belt), unlike the Not-Leo.

"What the hell is going on?! I saw two Piper's! And two Percy's! And two Annabeth's! And another _me_ was in my cabin! I get that I'm awesome, but this is just too much— _AH!_ There he—I mean, I—I mean— _never mind!_ The kind-of clone of me is right there!" he jumped back, eyes widening comically. Piper would have laughed, had it been in any other situation.

"You saw another Annabeth?! Where?" Annabeth exclaimed. Leo mutely pointed at a familiar, yet not-so-familiar figure striding towards the group. The Not-Annabeth had her hair pulled in a high, tight bun with no escaping strands, and worse a purposeful expression. She walked like she owned the world, and the first word that came to Piper's mind was _haughty._ Her clothing—a brand-new Camp shirt, designer-looking jeans, a light grey jacket, and lace-up boots—was practical and left no room for error. She was an inch taller than the actual Annabeth as well. Her chin was set, and she strode proudly.

There were now two Leo's, two Percy's, two Annabeth's, and two Piper's. (Piper was glad no one else was around; they would make a weird sight to behold.) The two Leo's eyed each other, the Percy's were both glancing around, the Annabeth's glared at each other with matching stormy grey eyes, and Piper watched the Not-Piper, who was fidgeting uncomfortably. Finally, Percy broke the silence. "What is going on?!"

* * *

 **Next chapter will be updated on Monday or Tuesday, and will be in Percy's POV.**


	2. The Royal Pain Arrives

**SuzuBells: They'll talk plenty in this chapter and all the other chapters, don't worry.**

 **I think there's just the one mention of Lyssa in this chapter (if you have no idea who/what that is, don't worry, just skip over the part. You'll know it when you see it, but it's only a sentence or so.).**

 **Prepare for more confusion!**

Percy

Nobody responded to Percy after his outburst. Percy rubbed his eyes wearily (he hadn't gotten enough sleep), looking at Percy the Second, as he'd decided to call his kind-of double. Percy the Second was pretty much a better version of him: taller, more confident, commanding—he even had broader shoulders than Percy himself! His Camp Half-Blood shirt was perfectly pressed and looked almost brand-new. He also had on expensive-looking athletic shorts—the kind that Percy would never be able to afford. Even his hiking boots looked clean and well cared for. The laces were perfectly tied in a durable knot that Percy could never quite get the hang of tying. _Are these better versions of ourselves?_

As soon as he thought that, Percy dismissed it. Leo the Second was certainly _not_ a better version of Leo—same with Piper the Second. Leo the Second and Piper the Second both looked tough, weary, and beaten-down. They also had the same look in their eyes; they seemed tired, and had a hunted look. For all Percy knew, maybe they _had_ been hunted. He actually didn't know much about them, especially Leo. On the other hand, Annabeth the Second just seemed… well, for lack of a nicer way to put it, bratty and snooty, kind of like Nancy Bobofit. And Percy wasn't sure how he felt about Percy the Second—sure, he _looked_ awesome (that sounded kinda weird), but if Percy had learned anything over the years, it was to not judge based solely on appearances.

"Well, shall I introduce myself?" a deep voice suddenly rang out, startling everyone. Percy was surprised to see Percy the Second speaking. _Dang, even his_ voice _is deeper than mine!_

"But… aren't you _Percy_? I mean, not Percy, but…" Annabeth managed to say. Percy moved closer to her, and squeezed her hand in silent support.

"Yes, I am," Percy the Second replied cheerfully, brushing invisible (or microscopic) flecks of dust off his broad shoulder. Percy rolled his eyes at Percy the Sec— _wait, am I rolling my eyes at myself? Or…_ this _is me, so how can_ he _be me? Or maybe he's me too… what? Oh, whatever… this is really confusing…_

"I'm Leo," a timid voice piped up. It sounded like Leo, but… not quite. He had a strange mixture of a southern-style drawl and a Spanish accent. _Oh yeah. Leo was born in Texas, so that's where the accent's from. But he doesn't have that accent now…_ The real Leo blinked, then opened and closed his mouth like a fish, much to Percy's amusement. He opened his mouth to say something, but Annabeth the Second cut him off.

"And I am Annabeth," she spoke in a clipped, brief, businesslike tone that let everyone know she wasn't messing around. Percy winced; she sounded like Annabeth when she was really stressed out or frustrated. That made sense. After all, Annabeth the Second _was_ Annabeth. Sort of, at least. But Percy couldn't imagine Annabeth talking like that just to introduce herself. He glanced over to her; Annabeth looked disgusted by her counterpart.

"Hi. I'm Piper," Piper the Second shuffled her feet anxiously, not meeting anyone's eyes. From the corner of his eye, Percy saw the real Piper methodically scanning Piper the Second, from her hunched shoulders to her rusted armor plating.

Just as the heavy silence started to grow awkward, a flash of godly light enveloped the four (eight?) demigods. When it cleared, Percy half-expected to be transported back to the Wolf House. Instead, three (six?) more bewildered faces greeted them with confusion.

"Jason!" the two Piper's launched themselves at two different Jason's. Percy glanced around in trepidation. _This isn't good…_ Beside him, a burly Chinese-Canadian-Roman stood up, wearing a Camp Jupiter shirt, sneakers, and jeans. But next to _Frank_ was Frank the _Second_. He was wearing the same things as Frank, but he looked like Frank before his transformation during the Giant War—kind of pudgy, with a babyish face, and body/head that looked slightly disproportioned (though Percy would never tell Frank that). Frank the Second looked uncomfortable in his own skin, somewhat wary, and was staring at the "real" Frank with an expression of… awe? Self-consciousness? In stark contrast, Frank seemed much more self-assured, and comfortable with himself. Frank the Second reminded Percy of the awkward Frank who had told Percy about his insecurities late at night on the quest to Alaska.

Then, there was the two Hazel's. Hazel was clad in a purple SPQR shirt that matched Frank's and casual shorts. Her hair was tied in a loose ponytail framing her face. On the other hand, Hazel the Second was slumped down, staring at the ground, and her unruly hair hid her face from view. Her shoulders looked like they'd held up the weight of the world—Percy would know. Even her clothes were depressing: a black shirt, grey sweatpants, and worn, frayed, lace-up boots with half a lace missing. Just then, a gust of chilly wind swept Hazel the Second's hair away from her face, and Percy was able to see her expression. She looked… _what's the right word?_ She looked beaten-down, like Leo the Second and Piper the Second, haggard—weary. Guilty. _Guilty… for what?_

The two Jason's were (surprisingly) the most surprising. Jason had on a Superman shirt (Percy had to stifle a laugh), hiking pants, combat boots, and a plain black hoodie. He was gazing at Jason the Second in shock—not an expression that Percy saw on Jason every day. Jason the Second wore a brand-new purple Camp Jupiter shirt, expensive-looking jeans, and combat boots that looked only slightly worn-in. Jason was already pretty tall (taller than Percy, sadly), but Jason the Second was at least four inches taller—not to mention way buffer. His expression was stoic and serious, kind of like Jason before he'd loosened up during the Giant War. Despite the fact that Piper the Second was currently nestling her head against his chest, he was bemusedly holding his arms at his sides, staring at the top of Piper the Second's head like he'd never seen a female creature before. Now, Percy wasn't an expert on this stuff, but even he could tell that Jason the Second felt _extremely_ awkward.

"This is seriously weird," Hazel voiced what they were all thinking. "And why are Jason, Frank, and I _here,_ instead of Camp Jupiter?" she rubbed her temple.

Percy nodded in agreement. Fingering his suspenders, Leo asked, "Is this just us seven? I don't see anyone else with this… problem. Not that anyone else is around, but…"

Without warning, Leo the Second and Piper the Second both shrank away. "So we're a _problem_?" Piper the Second looked down, and Leo the Second started playing with his fingers anxiously. He didn't have a tool belt, Percy noted. Leo seemed to notice, too, since he discretely nudged his shorter counterpart and handed him some pipe cleaners. Leo the Second's eyes widened, like he'd never gotten a gift before. (Maybe he hadn't…) Leo the Second smiled uncertainly at Leo.

"No, he didn't mean it, _did_ you?!" Percy the Second glared at Leo, daggers shooting out of his eyes. _Gods, that's so weird seeing a version of myself talking…_

"I'm sure he didn't," Frank the Second interjected timidly, shuffling his feet.

"He didn't!" Jason the Second spoke up confidently and with conviction. He glared at Percy the Second murderously. (Percy winced.)

"Let him speak for himself!" Annabeth the Second sighed impatiently. Annabeth nodded, agreeing with the version of herself.

"You're making him feel bad," Hazel the Second whispered softly. Leo the Second silently nodded in agreement, building what looked like a helicopter out of the pipe cleaners.

Leo cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "Uh… I'm sorry? And I _am_ right here, and I _can_ talk, so…" Annabeth the Second rolled her eyes, and muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like _I told you so!_ Percy tried not to laugh, but it was hard; despite her snotty demeanor, Annabeth the Second was a lot like Annabeth herself. Which, thinking about it, made a lot of sense.

And then everyone spoke up at once.

"Who are you people?" the two Annabeth's glared at each other.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here! That's annoying!" Leo muttered under his breath, while Leo the Second stayed silent, watching.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Percy glanced in surprise at his double, who said the same thing as him.

"Why am I _shorter_?" Jason the Second looked very confused.

"Why am I _taller_?" Regular Jason looked even more confused, if that was even physically possible. On the other hand, they were demigods, so… yes, anything was possible.

"How did we get from Camp Jupiter to here?" the two Frank's asked, puzzled.

"Why is this just us?" the Hazel's gestured around.

"Like we need more crazy things in our lives…" the Piper's sighed in unison.

Suddenly, the golden light appeared again, and Percy had just enough time to mutter " _More_ people?!" before it faded away to a hazy afterimage. In its place stood the royal pain in the arse herself—Hera, clad in a Greek chiton in an off-white color. A light gold glow emitted from her, as if she was reminding them, _Ha-ha! I have a godly glow and you don't! Muwahahaha!_

"Lady Juno!" Jason the Second, Frank the Second, and Hazel the Second kneeled down reverently almost immediately, and for a second Hera flickered into her Roman form (wearing a smelly goatskin cloak and an ancient-looking toga, and a slightly more stern expression), before changing back to Greek. Percy glared at her. _I should've known!_ Goddess or not, Hera had a (very) bad habit of meddling in people's lives, whether they wanted her to (very, very doubtful) or not (much more likely— _nobody_ wanted Hera messing up their life; just ask Hercules).

" _Hera_ , if you please." Percy resisted the urge to say something cheeky, like _Oh, there's no need to call me Hera, your majesty._ Or maybe _I know I'm not the best-looking guy out there, but calling me Hera was_ really _below the belt._ The goddess herself glared at Percy, as if she could read his thoughts. _Wait, she can. Whoops._ "I am _Hera_ , not… _her_!" Hera suddenly snapped at Jason the Second, who bowed deeply before nodding respectfully. "Now, you must be wondering who—"

"Seriously?!" Percy and Annabeth cried out at the same time. Percy gestured at Annabeth to continue without him. He had a feeling that he would end up ranting nonsense at Hera if he talked to her, and _that_ would probably end in him being turned into a cow or something. (Seriously, who has a _cow_ as their holy animal? A horse would be much cooler. Of course, Percy was biased.)

"First, you take away my boyfriend's memory and kidnap him for _eight months_! Then, you do… let me think… _NOTHING_ to help when we all get captured by a sadistic, psycho goddess of madness. _Now,_ you do… this thing… to us and expect us to just accept it?!" _Never mind. Now_ Annabeth _will be turned into a cow…_

"This is for your own sakes, Miss Chase!" Hera retorted angrily, godly light emanating from her eyes like laser beams. "Now, if you would _let me explain_ …" Nobody dared to make any sound at all, though Percy noted that both Annabeth and Piper had deadly glares on. " _Thank you._ Now, as I was saying, this is for your own good. I have noticed that the seven of you do not know nearly enough about each other—" Percy was about to burst his top, but at the warning glare from Hera, he fell silent temporarily. "You don't know enough about each other… specifically, about your fatal flaws. All heroes have one, no matter how hot-headed or irritating they may be." Here, she glowered pointedly at Percy and Annabeth.

"And, though some of you _are_ rather annoying, you are all heroes. Thus, you have fatal flaws. I believe that a few of you already know what your flaws are. However, most of you don't. So, I have decided to unleash a personification of each of your flaws. And at this very moment, they are already among you."

Percy turned slowly to look at Percy the Second. "So… my fatal flaw is that I'm tall?" he asked. He heard Annabeth and Hera groan in unanimity.

"Hubris… Athena told me that that's _my_ flaw," Annabeth muttered, scanning Annabeth the Second. "That definitely fits."

"Your fatal flaw is hummus?!" Leo asked incredulously. _Hey, that's what I thought she said, too!_ This time, _everyone_ groaned.

* * *

 **Okay, sorry for that terrible ending point.**

 **The next chapter will be posted on Thursday or Friday, and it will be the last chapter without much action in it. I need for the flaws to introduce themselves and all that stuff in the next chapter. _Then_ , we can get on with the disturbing of the demigods' privacy :D**

 **Anyone have predictions for how the flaws will act?**


	3. Still Seeing Double

**CrazyBlueOwl: Haha, I laughed outright at the Jason prediction.**

 **Luna and S1T2A3R4: Nico actually won't be here, but his flaw WILL be. I think I'll add the flaw after I get everything started, so that the demigods have time to get used to it before Nico's flaw comes along to complicate things even more.**

 **Guest, Writer-at-Heart0, demigodforlife: You shall see...**

 **Readergirl6262: I will make an educated guess on Piper, Frank, Hazel, and Jason. Leo, Nico, Percy, and Annabeth's are canon. And Percy's flaw isn't really a better version of him: Percy just sees him as a better version in APPEARANCE.**

 **Others: Thanks for the reviews!**

Jason

If Percy's fatal flaw was that he was tall, and Annabeth's flaw was that weird-sounding food… then Jason's fatal flaw must be that… uh… he had a lot of muscles? That wasn't even him trying to show off or trying to sound macho; it was the truth. Jason's fatal flaw was _really_ buff—much buffer than Jason. But seriously— _I have_ no _idea what my flaw is!_ At least Percy and Annabeth had some idea about their flaws; Jason vaguely remembered them talking about Athena telling them their flaws sometime on the Argo II, when they'd had some downtime.

"You demigods," Hera sighed wearily. Jason almost jumped a foot in the air. He'd nearly forgotten that Hera was there at all, that's how wrapped up in his own thoughts he was. And it wasn't exactly easy to overlook Hera. Although she was human-sized, she still broadcasted power and authority. "I'll let the flaws introduce themselves. And _yes,_ I am aware that they look different than you. _They are the personification of your flaws!_ And they will take all of your through each other's experiences and perspectives on events until I am satisfied that you have learned enough about each other. Also, I—"

Jason stopped paying attention when Juno— _Hera_ —when Hera started listing all the reasons why this would help them. (Honestly, she was boring.) Instead, he watched the others. Percy and Annabeth already knew their flaws; they were whispering something about loyalty. Piper, like Jason, seemed confused about her flaw. She caught his eye and he gave her a wry smile. Frank looked like he was the only one actually listening to Hera, but his scrunched-up expression plainly said that he didn't exactly like what she was saying. Hazel seemed deep in thought, probably thinking about what her fatal flaw was. Leo… Jason noticed that he kept staring at his own flaw with a horrified expression. _Did he figure out his fatal flaw? It must not be something good…_ But then again, they were fatal _flaws._ Fatal as in likely-to-get-you-killed, and flaw as in… well, nothing good.

What could Jason's flaw be? He knew that his namesake's flaw was hubris—deadly pride. But Jason wasn't overly proud. He was proud of the Legion, of course. He had good self-esteem, but not enough to make his arrogant or cocky. It would be lying to say that he wasn't proud of himself—he was. Just not to a fault. Jason's flaw couldn't be things like holding grudges or mistrust, either. Jason just wasn't that type of person. Loyalty? To a certain extent, maybe. But Jason could see the big picture. He could see what was best, whether for Camp Jupiter, Camp Half-Blood, or the world. Temper? Ha. No way. Insecurity, confidence, honor? Not enough to make it a _fatal_ flaw. Selfishness? That was a joke. Romans relied on each other and their senses of duty. And Jason was a Roman.

Well, sometimes he didn't feel like a Roman. When he was at Camp Half-Blood, it had seemed so much more _right_ than Camp Jupiter had ever been. Camp Jupiter was too… Roman. Camp Half-Blood was Greek. Jason was Roman, but he felt Greek. Did that make his disloyal to the Legion? _Am I being ungrateful to Rome?_ Jason suddenly felt guilty for preferring the Greek camp. _Is guilt my flaw? No… not really._ He wasn't _guilty_ , per say, for choosing the Greeks' camp over the Romans'. He just felt that as a Roman, it was his duty to remain a Roman.

Duty… _duty?_ Hera interrupted his thoughts rudely.

"As this may take a while, I will freeze time over this camp and the Roman camp. All in the camps and the mortals will be frozen, except for you seven—well, fourteen, really, I suppose. I will send meals and whatnot. You are free to move around, but no disturbing the frozen! Once I am satisfied that you have learned enough about each other, I will remove the time freeze and no time will have passed. Those of you who were at Camp Jupiter-" her form flickered to Juno, then Hera, then Juno again, before finally settling back to Hera (Jason grew dizzy just from watching her change back and forth; he couldn't even imagine what it would be like if he had multiple personalities and kept changing back and forth.)— "Those of you who were at that camp will remain here, as I assume you will want to discuss what happened. After that, the fatal flaws will be removed." Jason shuddered. That didn't exactly sound pleasant. The flaws didn't look too happy either.

" _Removed?_ " Annabeth the Flaw asked icily, her stormy grey eyes narrowing. "Care to expand upon that?"

Hera rolled her godly eyeballs. "You flaws will simply be absorbed back into the personalities of your… hosts. That's where you came from, anyway. No harm will come to you at all." This seemed to satisfy Annabeth the Flaw, who nodded curtly. "Now, as I said, I'll let the flaws introduce themselves. And now I shall be leaving…" Jason opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a golden light started to pulse around Hera. He quickly closed his eyes (and mouth); he'd just gotten lucky at the Wolf House to not (permanently) die from seeing Hera's divine form. _Temporarily_ descending into the realm of Hades wasn't much fun either. Actually, going into the realm of the Underworld wasn't recommended, period. Unless you were a child of Pluto or Hades, in which case… actually, Jason didn't know. He felt at home in the air, so did Nico and Hazel like being underground? _Getting off track…_ anyway, if he died, he didn't want the image of Hera's godly form burned into his mind to be the last thing he saw.

When he opened his eyes a few moments later with a golden Hera-shaped afterimage embedded on the inside of his eyelids, the goddess was gone, and all life around the group— the (formerly) rustling tree branches, the (formerly) mobile campers visible through the few cabins with windows—had ceased. Even the slight breeze had stopped. Curious, Jason concentrated on creating a light wind. It worked, but it took a lot more energy out of him than it should have. Jason supposed that it was because of the whole frozen-in-time thing. Honestly, at this point, he wasn't even surprised. He let the wind die down, but not before noting that even the blades of grass remained unmoved and stiff. True to her word, Hera had only let the demigods and their flaws remain excluded from the time freeze.

"Well," Percy said, breaking the eerie, disconcerting silence, "We should probably start with this 'learning about each other' junk. Otherwise Hera will never let up on this trapping-everyone-except-us-in-time thing."

"The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish," agreed Annabeth. "For once, you're right, Seaweed Brain." (Cue a mock-outraged "Hey!" from Percy.)

"Well, we do have all the time in the world!" Leo chimed in, grinning at his bad joke. Jason shook his head in defeat, although he smiled.

"No, let's start! That way, you can call hear about my awesomeness!" Percy the Flaw yelled exultantly. He didn't even seem to be joking. Crickets would have been heard… well, if Hera hadn't frozen all the crickets…

"Dude… _my_ awesomeness. Not yours!" Percy corrected. "You're just a part of me, remember?"

"Right… keep on telling yourself that, if it makes you feel any better," snorted Annabeth the Flaw. A few of the demigods laughed, but Annabeth led in the glaring at of Annabeth the Flaw.

"This is so stupid," one of the flaws complained loudly. Jason had to agree.

"Seriously, there's no point in delaying!" Hazel exclaimed, exasperated. Frank nodded.

"We're going to end up doing it anyway," added Piper.

"Well, I can see their point. We have plenty of time," Jason shrugged. "But personally, I think we should begin."

"But… like you said, we have plenty of time!" Leo protested, to no avail.

"Let us begin, already!" Jason the Flaw tapped his foot impatiently. "Enough time-wasting!"

"No!" Leo the Flaw looked desperate and panicked, and now that Jason thought about it, Regular Leo looked pretty panicked as well, though he hid it much better than his flaw. In fact, he looked _really_ panicked. Leo's gaze kept skidding around the group desperately, like a cornered animal. Jason immediately felt like a bad friend for not noticing earlier. _Seriously? I call myself his best friend? But it can't be_ that _bad, right?_ Hera _was_ invading their privacy, but…

"No!" Piper the Flaw agreed loudly, startling Jason. Hazel the Flaw, who had been mostly silent, now spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Yes!" Annabeth the Flaw, Percy the Flaw, and Jason the Flaw shouted in synchronization.

"Maybe?" Frank the Flaw shrugged ambivalently. "I really don't want to do this, but she _is_ the queen of the gods, so…" Jason was distinctly surprised when Hera didn't boom out something like _finally someone recognizes my power and importance!_

Jason rubbed his temple. This was giving him a killer headache. "Look, we don't have much choice; we're going to end up doing this sooner or later. I don't want to invade anyone's privacy or have my own memories shown, but _Hera_ is doing this, and she is… uh… very persistent…" Jason was going to say something not-so-nice as "persistent", but then he trailed off as he realized that Hera was probably listening to their every word.

"I agree. We are honor-bound to do so! It's our duty as children of the gods!" Jason the Flaw declared rather pompously. He seemed to be glaring at the Greek demigods, especially. Jason smacked his forehead. _I seriously hope I don't sound like that…_

Some still looked reluctant, but one by one, they slowly nodded or stated their assent, in varying levels of dubiousness.

"Okay… uh, so how exactly _do_ we get started?" As if in answer to his question (Actually, it definitely _was_ in response to his question. No doubt about it: Hera obviously did not know the meaning of "personal conversations" or "private".), a note fluttered down from the sky and landed softly in front of Jason. He knelt down and picked it up, wondering about the contents. "Dear… dermatologists… wait… no. Dear demigods, the flowers will show what to do… farm the magician Hat?" He heard some of the demigods snickering softly. _Magician Hat… that's not funny… okay, that_ is _pretty funny. Dermatologists… right…_

Jason blinked and hid his smile. That did not sound quite right… _Ugh, stupid dyslexia! It is entertaining, though…_ Frank, the only one without dyslexia (lactose intolerance instead; Jason actually preferred dyslexia. Not being able to eat ice cream sounded horrible.), sighed and took the note from Jason. "I always end up having to read these things," he grumbled. "Dear demigods, the flaws will know what to do. From, her majesty Hera."

As he finished reading, a stunning flash of golden light enveloped the note and it disintegrated into nothingness. At the same time, the golden light split and expanded into several different beams of light—seven, to be exact.

Jason watched in spellbound, horrified fascination as each beam entered each of the flaws. He was mesmerized by the hypnotic light. At the point where the light entered the flaws, they didn't fade—they just continued on. Then, suddenly, all the light was gone, leaving behind the seven fatal flaws. Jason reluctantly forced himself to look away from where the light hand been, and at their faces—especially Jason the Flaw.

He seemed different, and not just because the godly light had entered him. All of a sudden, he looked… enlightened, his mouth slightly parted open in awe. The other flaws looked the same.

"I am the fatal flaw of Jason Grace," Jason the Flaw announced confidently, a gleam in his eyes that wasn't there before.

"I am the fatal flaw of Annabeth Chase," Annabeth the Flaw chimed in.

"I am the fatal flaw of Perseus Jackson," Percy the Flaw declared.

"I am the fatal flaw of Piper McLean."

"I am the fatal flaw of Frank Zhang."

"I am the fatal flaw of Leo Valdez."

"I am the fatal flaw of Hazel Levesque."

They spoke in almost perfect unison. Jason looked from the flaws to his fellow demigods—the flaws seemed more purposeful now. On the other hand, Jason was just confused.

"I am Duty." Scenes from Jason's life flashed in front of his eyes in a whirlwind of memories, like he was dying, except he wasn't dying. _Duty._ He saw Hera taking him from his mother. He saw himself getting his first stripe on his tattoo. He saw himself being raised up as praetor of the Legion. He saw himself on the Argo II, fighting a monster. _Duty._

"Pride."

"Loyalty."

"Fear."

"Insecurity."

"Inferiority."

"Guilt."

 _Duty._

 **Next update on Sunday or Monday! It will be Jason's memories/experiences.**


	4. Duty Calls

**Okay, this chapter might be slightly confusing. The demigods and their flaws are transported to the actual moment that Hera decided they should see. "Past" Jason is the Jason in the memory. Jason or "regular" Jason is the Jason watching the memory.**

 **Some of you guys' predictions about the flaws will be true in this chapter; I had fun making them fight XD**

Leo

 _Inferiority! Schist!_ Cold dread settled over Leo like a dark cloud, and sweat pooled on his hairline. _They're gonna find out… crap! Crap, crap, crap! Crap..._ he thought, except he didn't think "crap". _Hopefully they'll be too interested in their own flaws to pay any attention to mine… Ha. As usual… no, stop it, Valdez. It's not their fault. I should shut my trap now… schist, this is bad._ Leo clenched his jaw and forced himself to think of something else. Anything else. Okay, the other's flaws. That was a safe topic. He'd kinda figured out that Annabeth's flaw was some sort of pride— it was sort of obvious, based on how Pride had been acting. And of _course_ Percy, the hero, had something as good as loyalty as a fatal _flaw._ Jason's made sense too. Fear? Pipes had fear? Guilt… from Hazel's past life? That would make sense. And Frank's… Leo felt for the big guy. His life depended on a piece of wood, for gods' sake! That was bound to make him insecure. Even if Leo had (very awesomely) given him the fireproof cloth bag Calypso had made, his life was still dependent on that puny little stick. Leo was really glad he wasn't Frank.

"Wait, time out," Piper spoke up. Her tone was light and calm, but Leo knew her well enough to tell that she was probably (internally) freaking out. "What was that?"

Surprisingly, it was Hazel's flaw, Guilt, who answered. "Hera gave us all your memories, so that we could figure out what flaw we are."

" _All_ our memories?" Percy asked, cringing. _Be glad you're not me,_ Leo smiled wryly before plastering on a mask of cheerfulness again. Guilt nodded with Percy.

"You're… uh… Insecurity, right?" Jason guessed, pinching the bridge of his nose absentmindedly.

Guilt shook her head, her curls bouncing in front of her face. "No, I'm Guilt. Frank's flaw is Insecurity."

"And there's Fear, Piper's flaw," added the babyish-looking Insecurity. "That's Pride— _she's annoying_ —there's Loyalty, and he's Duty," he pointed respectively at Piper's, Annabeth's, Percy's, and Jason's flaws. Pride glared at Insecurity, who visibly swallowed nervously. _Please don't introduce mine…_

"So, Hazel's flaw is Guilt, Frank's is Insecurity, Annabeth's is Pride, Percy's got Loyalty, and Jason has Duty. Oh yeah—mine is Fear," Piper started, seeming very (misleadingly) collected about the whole thing. "What's Leo's?" _Dammit!_ Her charmspeak washed over Leo, and he wasn't strong enough to resist it. But he managed to muffle his response so that it sounded something like _Flapagaffity_. Piper narrowed her eyes at him.

Hazel's eyes suddenly widened in something like… understanding. _Oh, schist! She was with me… when Nemesis…_ Leo banished the thought from his mind, but it kept returning, haunting him. Annabeth glanced at Hazel, and secret girl communication seemed to take place. Frank and Percy were starting to notice as well. Infer— _Leo's flaw_ met Leo's eyes. As weird as it felt to be staring at himself, they came to a silent agreement: _Nobody_ could know Leo's flaw.

Leo smiled sheepishly, trying to draw everyone's attention back to himself. "You'll find out later anyway, Beauty Queen," he explained. "Let's get on with this thing! Invading people's privacy? Doesn't that sound like fun? Who wants to go first?!" Leo exclaimed, flinging his arms out wide and narrowly avoiding hitting Frank. Jason regarded Leo skeptically. Annabeth and Hazel were still talking silently. Percy and Frank watched their respective girlfriends in bemusement. And Piper was still glaring at Leo, who didn't meet her eyes. The flaws all did their own thing, except Duty, who considered Leo pityingly. Leo glared at him.

"I will," Duty stepped up, his blue eyes perfectly matching the shade of the sky. He had a muscular physique, and cut an impressive figure. So Leo let out a low wolf whistle. Duty simply ignored him; Jason's face turned bright red. Leo snickered and grinned.

"So, uh, how's this gonna work, exactly?" Frank asked, scratching his head.

"My blackouts," Guilt and Hazel said simultaneously; Hazel continued. "Before the quest to Alaska, I had blackouts, where I relieved my memories. Frank and Leo went with me once or twice, I think. And Percy, you know what I'm talking about." Percy nodded. "I think us watching the memories will be like that—we get transported _to_ the moment itself, though nobody in the memory can see or hear us."

Insecurity instantly glared at Leo. _This isn't good._ "And you _held hands_!" he spat, advancing upon Leo with his fists clenched. Leo backed away, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. _Calm down, it's not Frank! Well, he is part of Frank, but…_ Insecurity's dark eyes blazed and he looked utterly terrifying, despite his babyish face. _Can he shape-shift?_ Leo got his answer when a fully-grown male silverback gorilla leaped on top of Leo, who squirmed and wiggled his way out. The real Frank tried to drag Insecurity away, but Insecurity shook off his counterpart, and attacked Leo again. Piper tried to use her charmspeak, but her voice shook. The others—well, they were no match for an 800-pound gorilla. Leo had no choice but to shoot fire from his fingertips, singing Insecurity's fur. Leo nimbly jumped forward and hooked his foot around his opponent's knees while he was distracted, bringing him down.

Suddenly, a booming voice echoed from the heavens. " _Stop that!_ " Instantly, all the demigods' heads snapped upwards. Leo stepped away from Insecurity. "Hazel is correct. You will undertake a journey through memories relevant to each of your fatal flaws. Duty! Begin," Just as abruptly as Hera started speaking, she stopped equally abruptly. Insecurity changed back, still glaring at Leo.

Duty cleared his throat, and everyone glanced over to him. "Take my arm, everyone," he directed. Apprehensively, Leo touched Duty's forearm. The others dubiously grabbed on to Duty as well, until Jason was the only one left who wasn't crowded around Duty.

"I… I don't think I can do this…" he face suddenly turned a sickly shade of green. Leo felt for him— Hera was seriously invading their privacy. _I_ definitely _don't want them to watch_ my _memories…_ But at the same time, Leo was curious about Jason's past. He didn't know the guy before the Wilderness School, and even that was mostly fake, Mist-induced memories.

Duty snapped. He had already been eyeing Jason—and all the Greek demigods (Even Piper; wait, no. _Especially_ Piper.)—with disgust and mistrust, but apparently, Jason not wanting to do as a goddess said was the last straw for Duty. "Traitor to Rome! You're just wimpy Greek scum now! Grab on, _now_!" He shot out a hand and yanked Jason towards him roughly. Leo felt his hair sparking. Quickly, he patted out the fire with one hand before scowling at Duty. What was his problem? Leo hated guys like him—they were no better than common bullies, and Leo had had more than his fair share of _those._ He considered withdrawing his hand, but a golden flash erupted around them, and suddenly Leo was back at the Wolf House. But this time, there was no evil snow goddess or trapped Hera.

There _was_ a little toddler waddling around curiously, and an intelligent-looking wolf—Lupa. _This must be right after Hera took Jason away from Thalia… gods, he's so young._

"They can't see us," Duty explained in a hushed tone. "We'll just watch." Leo glared at him and yanked his hand away from Duty, making a big show out of wiping his hands. Jason laughed softly.

Lupa started speaking in a rasping voice—something Leo couldn't understand a word of, so it must've been Latin. She gestured at a fallen tree branch lying on the ground. Jason—the little one—moved to pick it up, but Lupa shook her head in warning and said something else. The Romans listened intently. Whatever she said, little Jason nodded, took a few steps towards the branch, then promptly face-planted onto the ground.

Piper squealed. "You were so cute, Jason!" Jason blushed, while Duty rolled his eyes and sighed. Fear just smiled… wistfully, it seemed to Leo.

"Pipes, your Aphrodite is show—" Leo stopped and gaped, open-mouthed, as little Jason quickly picked himself back up and examined himself for injuries detachedly with no sign of complaint or tears. Lupa nodded in what seemed like approval. Despite the dirt on his face, little Jason smiled in delight, showing off a gap-toothed smile that made the girls and their flaws—six in total—aw in unison. Leo nearly did so with them, but stopped himself just in time. It might've been slightly embarrassing if he did aw…

Then, Leo's stomach suddenly lurched like when he was carsick, and he was turned inside-out (or so it felt like). He closed his eyes and tightened his jaw. When he opened his eyes again, the fourteen demigods/flaws were somewhere else. Leo recognized it as the center of New Rome—actually, the very place where Leo had fired the ballista at. His stomach twanged again, but this time it had nothing to do with the nauseating transition between memories.

On a podium stood a thin blond scarecrow, with a few slashed teddy bears sitting in a pile at his feet. Leo sucked in a breath of intense dislike. Duty hissed, and Leo thought he heard him mutter _disloyal to Rome_ under his breath. Only Octavian would stand in front of several hundred armed soldiers with gutted stuffed animals sitting at his feet. He didn't even seem the slightest bit self-conscious about the pile of white stuffing scattered around him like bird droppings.

"He killed my panda pillow pet," Percy grumbled to himself. Leo tapped his ear to make sure he'd heard correctly. Then, he (unsuccessfully) stifled a snort.

Next to Octavian stood a tall boy, maybe eight. Nine? Ten? Leo couldn't tell, even though he was standing pretty much right in front of the two. Either way, he was tan, moved lithely, and had the calm air of a leader, though he seemed very unsure of himself at the same time. He had a thin white scar on his upper lip— _hey, that's Jason!_

Jason shifted uncomfortably as he watched his past self. Leo wasn't proud of it, but just then, he felt a stab of jealousy. Jason was insanely good-looking, even at such a young age. And from the massive crowd gathered below the podium, he was obviously well-known and respected. That was a lot more than could be said about Leo at that age. When he was eight… right. _Aunt Rosa called me a diablo and sent me off._

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter—first year of service!" Octavian announced, not sounding too happy. The assembled legionnaires cheered loudly. Past Jason clenched his jaw, threw his shoulders back, and without further ado, Octavian brought a hot iron to Jason's arm. Past Jason sucked in a shaky breath as the iron touched his skin. The Romans and Percy absentmindedly touched their own tattoos. Octavian took away the iron. "All hail Jason Grace, the son of Jupiter!"

The scene changed yet again. They were still in New Rome, and Jason was still on the podium, but now he looked around fifteen, and he wore a purple cloak. He was the praetor, standing proudly alongside Reyna. Past Jason didn't appear to notice the furtive glances past Reyna shot at him, and neither did normal Jason. Duty, however, did.

"You idiot!" he growled.

"What?!" Jason snapped back.

"You should have accepted Reyna! The two praetors together—perfect! A former praetor and that useless _Greek_ Venus spawn? Bah!" Duty spat, glaring at Piper, who looked furious at both Duty and Jason.

"Is that really how you thought of me?!" she yelled. Leo moved closer to her and glared at Duty. But before anyone could say anything else, the memory changed.

The scenes changed rapidly now. Jason leading the Fifth Cohort against the First in a war game. Jason discussing something serious with Reyna in a Senate meeting (Piper glared at Duty; Fear looked devastated). Jason buying a—a brownie at a store in New Rome? Jason being heroic. Jason being powerful. Jason doing his duty.

Then, the memory scene shifted for one last time, and now the group stood in the entryway of a gigantic palace of truly massive proportions. Leo could sense all of the millions of tons of stone used to build the fantastical structure. Annabeth and Pride both gasped at the architecture (or something like that). Hazel's eyes were wide, and Percy was practically drooling over the vast array of deadly weaponry lined up against the walls. But Jason was tense, his posture rigid—Duty was the same.

Suddenly, a troupe of armor-clad demigods marching in a tight battle formation burst in from the side, with a familiar blond head leading the way, though he wasn't a praetor yet. Jason and the Legion. Past Jason held his head high as he scanned the room alertly, his sword held at the ready. The legionnaires scattered at a sharp command from Reyna, and suddenly, a horde of bloodthirsty monsters came out of nowhere and engaged them in battle immediately.

"Toppling the black throne of Krios," Jason muttered softly. Percy made a whimpering noise. Leo inhaled sharply. This was the Romans' Titan War. He tore his gaze away from the building and to the battle. As he watched, Jason ran (and flew) all over the place, helping out his fellow soldiers as needed. Until a giant Titan loomed in front of him, hissing nasty insults. And what did Jason do? Of course, he hovered up into the air and started blasting bolts of supercharged lightning at the Titan.

"Even Percy wasn't that reckless," Annabeth commented. Loyalty huffed, apparently not understanding that "reckless" wasn't something good.

"Excuse me?! I was way more heroic than Duty! I fought Kronos! Duty only fought whatever-this-dude's-name-is!" Leo rolled his eyes as Duty muttered something about ignorant Greeks. Pride glared at Duty, affronted.

Then, everything happened at once. Duty, Loyalty, and Pride started a three-way catfight, with Duty and Loyalty arguing over who was more heroic, Pride and Duty yelling about whether Romans or Greeks were better, and Loyalty and Pride fighting about… nothing in particular, actually. Their counterparts tried to stop the fight, which led to Fear yelling insults at Duty and Guilt joining in to support her, which led to Piper and Hazel trying to stop their flaws, which led to Insecurity tripping over Hazel, which caused Infer— _Leo's flaw_ to fall down as well. Frank scrambled to help the flaws up, and so Leo was left watching the battle, which had taken a turn for the worse.

Unblinkingly, the Titan batted Jason to the ground, then ripped the future praetor's sword out of his hands. Leo held his breath as Jason lay unmoving. Then—past Jason got up, and did something weird. He rolled to the side and grabbed a discarded dagger. Then, with a high spinning kick, he dispatched at least three monsters into Tartarus with hardly a second glance at them. With Apollo/Artemis-worthy aim, past Jason threw the dagger at Krios' hand, who dropped Jason's sword. Immediately, Jason leaped up and stabbed the Titan straight in the heart.

 _Damn..._

 **Next chapter will be updated sometime Wednesday-Friday. I will finish up Jason's memories, and do Annabeth's.**

 **I think I'll add Nico's fatal flaw in Chapter 6. Do you think I got Jason's flaw accurately?**


	5. Deadly Pride

**SuzuBells: No, they're watching the memory. They are in the moment itself, though the memory-people can't see/hear/sense them. This is similar to Hazel's flashbacks/blackouts during the Giant War.**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: Annabeth's :)**

 **Angelcat8: I want this story to be canon-compatible, so sorry. But I will have a lot of fun with adding in Nico's flaw...**

 **Readergirl6262: Thank you for the compliment! However, I don't go back on my promises, so Nico's will be added. BUT they won't be watching HIS memories in the next chapter; I'll just _introduce_ his flaw in that chapter. EVERYONE PLEASE READ THIS! ^**

 **inblindingdarkness: I was planning to do that anyway! However, Gabe isn't going to be downright abusive, since he's not that way in the books. He'll just be... you know what? I'm not going to spoil the rest of the story.**

 **Other reivewers: Thanks for the reviews! (Blue) cookies for y'all!**

Annabeth

Annabeth came to a conclusion as she hurriedly flipped a murderous Duty away from Loyalty, who Duty had been trying to strangle—Hera was completely crazy. Creating personifications of single-faceted fatal flaws— _seven_ of them, not to mention the three who couldn't seem to stop fighting? No. Just no. Just when Annabeth thought that the queen of the gods couldn't sink any lower, she had. What was the purpose of this? Couldn't Hera just have the demigods sit down and talk about each other so that they could "bond"? The flaws were causing a lot of trouble.

Then again, her own flaw was causing a lot of the trouble herself. What the _hell_ was Pride thinking, challenging Duty to an arm-wrestling match? For that matter, why exactly did Loyalty start fighting with Duty over who was the better hero? And honestly, who _cared_ whether Pride or Loyalty had more Camp Half-Blood T-shirts?! That had to be the most pointless argument Annabeth had ever heard. And considering that there were Nike kids at camp… she'd heard a lot of pointless arguments.

Suddenly, a loud gasp from Leo caused Annabeth to glance away from the brawl (it _was_ a brawl) and back towards the battle—what they were actually supposed to be watching. Annabeth looked up just in time to see past Jason fly up and stab Krios the Titan in the heart. Duty even stopped screaming at Loyalty to watch.

Golden ichor flowed out of the wound, and the Titan glared at past Jason. Krios wore a thick, black breastplate, wrist guards, and minimal armor on the other parts of his body. His face was chiseled and lined, and his bearing was both regal and savage. The lord of the South's face was twisted in a grimace as he clutched his chest, where Jason's sword had impaled his armor.

Next to Annabeth, Jason cringed. _I wonder what happens next..._ Annabeth mused thoughtfully, though she wasn't too concerned. After all, Jason was right there next to her, perfectly fine, alive, and whole. (Well, other than the fact that he and Percy were trying to wrangle Loyalty, while looking completely exasperated with the hot-headed flaw.)

"You will pay for that!" Krios shouted loudly, glaring at past Jason, who seemed utterly terrified, but still managed to yell out a rousing battle cry.

" _Twelfth Legion, unite!_ " Duty puffed out his chest, looking extremely smug.

"That was me, taking over Jason! I, Duty, helped Jason win against that brute!"

"Arrogant much?" muttered Leo. Annabeth shot the fire-user an amused smile.

Immediately, Duty began to berate Leo for something-or-other, which Annabeth turned out (but not before sending the surprised son of Hephaestus a sympathetic glance).

"Stupid heroes, always thinking they can beat me because I'm the Titan of the _South_ ," grumbled the Titan, taking a swing at past Jason, who weaved away just in time. "I always get the worst posts. _Guard the palace and throne!_ While Kronos does all the fun stuff on the other side of the country!"

Past Jason (intelligently) didn't reply, instead sending a jolt of electricity at a monster about to behead a legionnaire.

"Who _cares_ about the dang throne?!" Krios continued, oblivious. (He didn't use the word "dang", though.)

All other sound was drowned out by the crashing stone, as past Jason flew at an astonishing speed towards the unassuming, yet gleaming, black throne at the end of the hall-like room. Annabeth couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before—it was Krios' throne, the source of great power that most likely held this palace together! Krios suddenly roared.

Unhesitatingly, past Jason slashed his Imperial gold blade into the backrest of the high-backed throne. For one brief second, nothing happened. Then _everything_ happened at once.

Annabeth knew she couldn't die (at least not in Jason's memory), but she still closed her eyes when his supercharged sword hit the throne. The insides of her eyelids turned bright gold. When she opened her eyes, Krios was gone. The throne was gone. The monsters were gone. The _palace_ was gone! Only the Romans were left, standing there in shock. A few even kept battling invisible opponents (Annabeth laughed) before they realized that the monsters were all gone, vaporized by the massive release of the throne's energy.

"Praetor!" a lone cry rang out. "Praetor Grace!"

Nobody made a noise. The voice, an unfamiliar one, cried out again, and this time, another joined in. Then another. And another. Soon, the castle's ruins echoed with cries of _Praetor!_

"And that," Duty smugly announced, "That is how you become a praetor!"

* * *

Annabeth experienced the now-familiar nauseous sensation of switching memories, but instead of carefully placed Roman-style masonry, she felt soft grass beneath her feet. They were back at camp! Her shoulders slumped in relief.

Frank stumbled and sat down heavily against a nearby tree. Hazel leaned her hands on her knees, catching her breath. Piper and Jason stood together, but then her face turned stony and she went to join Leo, who was stretching by another tree. Percy jogged up to Annabeth, raking his fingers through his dark hair. Annabeth smiled at him and laced her fingers through his.

Fear glared at Duty, who wrinkled his nose at her pompously. Loyalty glared at Duty while he glared at Fear. Fear looked hurt and sat down, brooding. Guilt and Insecurity huddled together. And Leo's flaw— _why can't I remember his name?!_ —tinkered with pipe cleaners by himself. Annabeth was pretty sure that his flaw was—

"Oh gods; thank the gods!" Pride groaned alongside Annabeth, collapsing to the ground on her knees. "Watching that was pure torture!"

"Watch it!" warned Loyalty, forcefully yanking her up roughly and glaring.

"Like _you_ care!" scoffed Pride. As much as Annabeth disliked her flaw, Pride was right. Why on earth would _Loyalty_ care about _Duty?_ Duty was a pretentious, stuck-up idiot… and he pretty much hated all Greeks. Why would Loyalty defend Duty against Pride? (Annabeth also had to admit that that kind of hurt…) But as soon as Annabeth asked the question to herself, she knew. Loyalty was loyal—to a fault.

"Guys! Er… flaws! Stop it!" ordered Percy, gently shoving his flaw away from Annabeth's. Annabeth nodded gratefully at him. And suddenly, she became aware of a second conversation going on behind her.

"Pipes, please hear me out!" Jason pleaded, touching his girlfriend lightly on the shoulder.

Piper pushed his hands off. "I knew you probably had a thing for Reyna, but that was just—"

"Well, actually, he didn't. _I_ did. Reyna was perfect! Such a good _Roman…_ " Duty smiled dreamily, running his fingers through his hair. Piper's mouth dropped open and she turned on Jason angrily.

"Are you kidding me, Jason?!" she threw her hands into the air. "Wanting to do your duty is one thing. But this… I realize that Duty is exaggerating, but he's still a part of you, which means that _you_ thought that Reyna was better! Correction: you _still_ think that Reyna is better!"

"Pipes, look… I… uh… it's my fatal flaw, see? So it's not really me… it is me, but it's my flaw, so I… um… well, I mean that…" stuttered Jason, his shoulders slumping.

"Oh, wow, that makes me feel so much better!" Fear exploded, her breath coming in raggedly.

"You're so lucky… and you threw it all away…" Leo's flaw murmured softly to himself. Imperceptibly (but Annabeth was trained), Leo himself nodded.

" _SHUT UP, all of you!_ "

Pride drew everyone's attention. "It's my turn for the memories!" Annabeth gulped nervously. _Oh gods, what memories? Something to do with hubris… pride… my quests?_ Luke? _Holy Athena…_ she started to protest, but Pride scowled at her smugly. Annabeth sighed; Pride was right. Again. Unfortunately.

She latched onto Pride's wrist. The others did the same, and Annabeth mentally prepared herself for the memories.

The bright golden flash of light temporarily blinded Annabeth, and so when she forced her eyes open again, she was back in her bedroom. Her bedroom. But from ten years ago?

One wall was painted a calm shade of blue, and the others were a silvery white. Books cluttered every surface, and miscellaneous items along with a teddy bear lay scattered atop a worn desk. The grey curtains were drawn, but it was opened a sliver; the night sky was dark, and stars dotted the city landscape. Annabeth curiously walked around her room, examining the objects inside. She stifled a laugh (not wanting to disturb the serene scene) when she saw a discarded Greek mythology book dog-eared at the chapter about Hera. Hazel giggled softly over her shoulder.

On a twin bed lay a little blond girl, her sheets tucked up to her chin. Hazel and Piper cooed softly.

"That's me!" whispered Pride. Even though little Annabeth ( _this is seriously messing with me…_ ) couldn't hear the group, they made as little noise as possible. Even the troublesome trio (Loyalty, Duty, and Pride) had stopped fighting.

Annabeth stepped closer to her past self. She looked to be about six or seven years old. That, coupled with the night scene… no! As she watched, paralyzed, little Annabeth started to scream.

Instinctively, Annabeth leaped up and checked to see if the door was open. It was, but only partly. That was an instinct that Annabeth thought she had abandoned long ago, but apparently she still had it. Cobwebs started appearing around the room. She braced herself.

" _Spiders!_ "

"Get them off me! Get them _off!_ They're crawling everywhere! Help me… _Ah!_ Please…" Little Annabeth whimpered, rolling back and forth on the cobweb-covered bed. "Please… their legs… _DADDY!_ " she shrieked, sitting bolt upright. Percy wrapped his strong arms around Annabeth as she trembled, watching her younger self deal with the spiders. Pride pursed her lips, but the rest of the group looked horrified. "Daddy… help…" Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and she sat still.

On cue, the ajar door swung open, and a woman with delicately shaped features walked in, yawning loudly. She wore a bathrobe and her dark hair was in curlers. _My stepmother._ "Annabeth! Are you having those silly nightmares again?!" The cobwebs slowly faded. "And you _know_ your father has to work tomorrow!" Little Annabeth nodded, and her stepmother, satisfied, left.

Little Annabeth laid down and pulled her covers back up, sleeping fitfully. She didn't scream, though the spiders and cobwebs returned. "I can't let her hear me. I can't. _Spiders…_ "

Percy knitted his eyebrows together. His eyes asked her who that woman was. Annabeth tensed.

"Reminds me of Jane…" Piper muttered. The others' faces were scrunched up in dislike.

Suddenly, the golden light erupted again, and the demigods were given no more chance to discuss the memory as they were pulled into another one. Annabeth immediately recognized the place, and Percy did too, as well as their flaws. A wave of shame washed over her.

 _Sea of Monsters. The Sirens. I was so stupid… trying to listen to them…_

A thirteen-year-old Annabeth sat, tied up against a ship mast, with tears leaving streaks on her face. A thirteen-year-old Percy stood with his back towards her, gripping an old ship's railing tightly. His knuckles were white. Suddenly, Loyalty crossed the distance between him and Percy in two quick strides.

He pulled Percy by the collar. " _What did you do to here?!_ " His piercing green eyes were dangerous and he seemed more than ready to kill his counterpart. Luckily, Percy skillfully wriggled out of Loyalty's grasp and glared back at him, before irritably explaining the situation with the Sirens. The others listened intently as well; they didn't fully know what had happened. Loyalty's gaze became sheepish. "Oh, yeah... I have all of your memories… whoops?" Percy wordlessly snaked his arm around Annabeth's shoulders and scowled at his flaw.

Annabeth returned her attention to the memory. Now, her past self was wriggling around her bonds madly, though she was still tied up. Finally, she jolted to the side, and that (coupled with a coincidental rolling wave) caused a familiar bronze knife to fly out of her pocket, and it nestled into the crook of her elbow, not even leaving a scratch.

Someone whistled appreciatively, and Percy groaned. "So _that's_ how you did it!" Annabeth smirked playfully in response. Younger Annabeth smiled happily, before using the knife to saw through her bonds. Then, something Annabeth wasn't very proud of happened. Past Annabeth stuck out her tongue at past Percy's back, before jumping overboard and swimming towards the Sirens.

Annabeth's stomach lurched again, but it was from relief this time. Hera wasn't _completely_ insane, then. At least she hadn't shown Annabeth's vision... when the lurching stopped, the group was somewhere that Annabeth recognized. The Athena cabin!

Her past self was a lot older than the last memory. Sixteen? The cabin was completely empty, except for past Annabeth. She had bags under her yes, wore a rumpled camp T-shirt, her hair was messy, and she wore mismatched socks. Annabeth cringed. _I hate you, Hera…_ Percy started to ask when this was, but stopped when past Annabeth began to speak.

"I miss you," she stated. Her tone left no room for error—it was a fact. Percy nodded in dawning comprehension, and held Annabeth tighter, which she was grateful for. "I really miss you, Seaweed Brain," her past self said simply, spreading her arms out before dropping them again. Silent tears trickled down her face, before she angrily wiped them away. "Dammit, I _won't_ cry!" she growled, still swiping at her eyes. "Gods…" she rubbed her forehead, heading over to a worktable in the corner of the silent cabin.

"I have work to do. I'm not going to cry!"

Annabeth glared at the others and their flaws, daring them to say anything about the memory. No one did, though they looked stricken. The golden light came again, and the fourteen demigods were transported rapidly from one memory to another. Annabeth wanted to throw up.

They saw Luke, with his close-cropped sandy hair and cunning blue eyes. He held out a hand to past Annabeth, inviting her to join him and Thalia.

They saw ten-year-old Annabeth storming off into a snowy night, after an argument with her stepmother. _Nothing had changed,_ Annabeth thought bitterly.

They saw Annabeth protesting against the Sphinx's excuse for "riddles", which were just random trivia questions. Annabeth winced slightly. That _had_ been arrogant.

And then came the stuff of Annabeth's nightmares.

 **Muwahaha... cliffhanger...**

 **Any guesses on what that could be? And I just made a really bad pun... heh... (that's a hint, for you non-clear-sighted mortals...)**

 **The next chapter will _introduce_ Nico's flaw (but not Nico himself). Nico's memories will be watched _after_ the rest of the demigods' memories. This is because I originally planned this to be a Seven-fic, but then changed my mind. I like to stick to a rough outline, and my story arcs make more sense if the Seven's memories are watched first.**

 **But in the meantime, you can enjoy Nico's flaw's reactions to things!**

 **Next chapter posted on Sunday or Monday.**


	6. Guilty Thoughts

**Readergirl6262: Thanks! And Hazel's :)**

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 **"Update" people: Here I am!**

 **Others and everyone: Thanks for all the reviews!**

 **I can't believe I have so many follows... thanks so much, guys!**

Frank

The pile of crushed cars pretty much gave it away. The flying, war-ready Argo II confirmed Frank's suspicions. The giant, screaming spider just drove it home. Oh, and the forty-foot-tall scowling statue of Athena? Yeah… this was definitely a memory Frank didn't particularly want to watch. But all the same, he still morbidly wanted to know what had happened. He hadn't been close enough before to see… He didn't want to watch, but he wanted to… it was the same principle of human nature that made people stop and gawk at traffic accidents.

Annabeth whimpered. The architect of freaking _Olympus,_ one of the _Seven,_ survivor of _Tartarus,_ and retriever of the _Athena Parthenos_ whimpered. But Frank couldn't blame her. After all… Tartarus.

He watched the unfolding memory with undisguised revulsion. Slithery tendrils of thin spider silk snaked across the ground, and someone started breathing sharply when Annabeth-in-the-memory's ankle got tangled in it without her noticing. Then, Frank realized that it was himself breathing like that. Next to him, Hazel squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. Was Hera really going to make them—especially Percy and Annabeth—watch this?

Apparently so. The Annoying Trio (as Frank had started to think of Loyalty, Duty, and Pride) were quiet, for once. Loyalty was clutching Pride's shoulder so hard Frank thought that he saw Pride wince. Percy and Annabeth weren't doing much better. Insecurity kept shaking his head. He might have been Frank's flaw, but he might as well have been Leo, for all that Frank understood about him. Guilt looked… guilty. Fear looked… well, scared. And Inferiority was pale— _Gods of Olympus! How did I not realize earlier? Inferiority… that's much worse than the others… Leo… inferiority?_

Like a fast-forwarded scene in a movie, in just a brief moment—or so it seemed to Frank—Annabeth and Percy were dangling over the pit. A one-way fall to literal hell.

"Let me go…" the memory Annabeth looked up at past Percy, an expression of sudden tiredness and sadness etched in lines across her face. Her eyes were a cloudy grey, yet steely with resolve. She was a fighter, a warrior. _She knows her place in the world… unlike me…_ Frank shook off the thought angrily. Where had _that_ come from? Having his flaw around was really messing with his mind.

"Never!"

All three versions of Percy—regular Percy, Loyalty, and in-the-memory Percy—spoke at once. (Or rather, screamed, in the case of Loyalty.) Frank gazed at Percy in awe. He had fallen into Tartarus for Annabeth. Frank had known that, sure, but this was just… Frank had been too far away to know exactly what had happened. To be completely honest, now, he preferred it that way. To see Annabeth's determination, Percy's stubbornness, Nico's anguished expression when he realized what was going to happen… it was just scary.

Suddenly, he understood Annabeth's anger at Hera.

"Lead them there! Promise me!" Memory Percy yelled hoarsely to Nico, fifteen feet above him. Frank saw the tautness of Percy's grip, his scrabbling fingers. He saw Annabeth's widened eyes. He heard Nico's stuttered promise.

He heard Annabeth's soft sobs; he saw Percy's furious blinking. Hazel clutched Frank's arm tightly, so tightly that it hurt. Frank didn't mind. Piper swiped at her eyes every few seconds. Jason's face was gaunt. Leo kept staring at past Percy's hand.

It was starting to slip.

The last time Frank had cried, _really_ cried was a lifetime ago. When his mother had died… yes, a lifetime ago. But seeing that hand slip… Frank brought his hand up to his face, and was only a little embarrassed when it came away slightly damp.

No thumb now.

It slipped some more.

Slipping.

"We're staying together."

"As long as we're together."

Then, in the memory, just as Percy's fingers kept slipping off the tiny ledge, just as Nico watched in horror, just as the others screamed in shock, terrified, as the statue of Athena serenely looked on—

He let go.

The two figures, still clutching each other's hands, hurtled into the inky darkness of the pit, dragged down by the thin spider silk strands. Dragged down by Pride.

* * *

The bright flash of godly light was even more blinding after the seemingly never-ending blackness of the pit to Tartarus. Frank averted his eyes; when he looked up again, they weren't by the chasm in the ground. They weren't even standing outside, at Camp Half-Blood. They _were_ in a dark cabin with a single occupant, lying on a bed.

Annabeth ignored it all, mumbling something. Frank wasn't sure if she was speaking to Percy, herself, or anyone in general. Nevertheless, he heard her. "My stupid flaw landed us there. Oh my gods… how did I not realize… Arachne was right! I'm a daughter of Athena, for gods' sakes. Why didn't I _realize_? Fatal flaws are _fatal_ for a reason…" The thing that struck Frank the most was what she said after that, though.

"Maybe Hera's right. We do need to learn about this." If _Annabeth_ , the president of the We-Hate-Hera Club, was saying that…

"Is this my cabin?" Hazel frowned, glancing around.

 _The Hades cabin!_ Frank took in his surroundings for the first time. It appeared to be in the process of being renovated—retro-looking furniture was pushed to one side of the vast space, while creepy blood-red and black coffin-like beds were shoved into an abandoned, dusty corner. Frank vaguely remembered Jason telling him that Nico had planned to redecorate his cabin because apparently it had looked like a "vampire's lair". Frank had to admit that it did.

"Why are we in here? Is this another memory or something?" Leo inspected a coffin—uh, a bed.

"No. I've actually never been in here before," Annabeth replied, pacing around. She seemed to be herself again. Frank noted that a sheen of sweat was still on her forehead, though. Watching your own memories with a bunch of other people wasn't exactly an ideal situation. But… _if this isn't a memory, then why are we here?_

"Idiots," someone muttered. Frank immediately recognized Pride's disdainful tone. "It's obvious; Hera brought us here for another reason!" Right on cue, a tray of doughnuts appeared on a small wooden table, with a note in fancy script attached.

"Shut the hell up, Pride," Leo scowled at her, before he blanched. "Gods, sorry…" Frank winced as Leo belatedly realized what he'd said.

"It's okay," Annabeth snapped. Leo looked relieved, then cracked some stupid joke making fun of Pride, which she sniffed at.

Frank grabbed a pastry—he had only just started eating breakfast when Hera basically kidnapped him—and took the note as well. Sometimes he actually wished he had dyslexia. Then at least he wouldn't have to read all the notes… notes that were in cursive, to boot.

"Demigods and flaws," he read, "Another hero will be joining you momentarily. Actually… just the flaw, not the hero himself. Guilt is next. Hera. P.S: I'm not totally heartless. It wouldn't do much good to let you starve, would it? Enjoy your doughnuts."

Everyone's heads, in unison, either swiveled around to watch the frozen figure snoring on the bed, or towards Hazel's flaw, Guilt. Frank glanced at Hazel worriedly. He knew she could take care of herself, but he wanted to let her know that he was there for her anyway. It _was_ going to be her memories next. _Wait. The guy on the bed can't be frozen if he's snoring…_ Suddenly, he yawned widely and lazily sat up.

"Nico!" Hazel said, jumping forward and hugging him, seeming to forget Hera's warning that her memories were next.

But then, slowly, she backed away from the figure. And as Frank moved closer to the still-yawning and obviously tired boy, Frank saw why. Nico was stiff, his arms stuck tightly against his sides. His clothing was slightly similar to what Nico usually wore… _slightly._ He had on ripped black skinny jeans, a black muscle tee, worn black sneakers with frayed black laces, a black belt with his black sword clipped to it, and… well, a whole lot of black.

His face was lined, and his skin was pale, though he practically radiated confidence and power. His eyes were dark, and Frank involuntarily shied away from him. Nico was scary. This guy was scarier. His eyes bored into Frank, and his face held no trace of a smile. In other words, he was utterly terrifying, never mind that Frank was almost a foot taller.

"I'm not Nico," he stated flatly. Hazel gripped Frank's arm tightly. "I'm his fatal flaw. I am Grudge." Frank remembered Hera's note: _Just the flaw, not the hero himself…_

"Uh, Nico—I mean, Grudge—do you remember us?" Percy hesitantly spoke up, not meeting Grudge's eyes.

" _Yes!_ " the sudden fierceness of his tone shocked Frank, and a couple of the other flaws even scrambled backwards—away from Grudge. "Of course I remember you, _Perseus!_ You killed Bianca!" Percy's expression was one of guilt.

"I—Nico—Grudge—I—"

"Save it, Jackson!" Grudge spat. "I don't want to hear how you allowed her onto the quest in the first place. I don't want to hear about you letting her climb into that blasted machine. I don't want to hear about how you watched her die. I don't want to hear about you _breaking your promise_ to my naïve self."

"Then, what _do_ you want?" Percy asked, staring him down. He seemed to have regained his confidence. Frank admired the guy. Grudge was really intimidating.

"You want to know what _I_ want?!" Grudge laughed bitterly. "I want my sister back. I want Bianca back."

Suddenly, Loyalty knelt down in front of Grudge. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I'm sorry," Percy whispered too.

"Shut your face up!" growled Grudge, scowling hard in his outburst. Frank would have found his word choice funny except for his tone. Grudge turned to Annabeth next. "I've got nothing to say to _you_!" Annabeth looked hurt, but also relieved he hadn't said anything worse. "You—" he turned to Jason. "Always meddling in people's private business, huh?" Jason said nothing. "Piper. I know those rumors your cabin spread about me at camp. I hate kids of Aphrodite… Hazel," his face softened a bit, but he said nothing more. "Frank." Frank cringed a bit. Had he done anything bad to Nico? He couldn't remember. "You're okay, I suppose. You tolerated my presence back at Camp Jupiter. But watch it with the personal questions!" Frank nodded mutely, remembering Italy. He _had_ been prying.

"Leo," Grudge glared at Leo, who, for once, looked completely serious. "Just… you're alright. But doing _that_ doesn't always help." Leo nodded soberly. Frank, however, had no idea what was going on. But he didn't dare ask.

* * *

The group that was now fifteen was just wandering around, and polishing off the last of Hera's doughnuts. Strangely enough, Grudge and Inferiority were talking, and neither seemed to be killing the other. Leo was being cornered by Piper, Jason, and Duty, who apparently had put their argument about Reyna aside temporarily. Annabeth and Pride were arguing, while Percy tried to prevent Loyalty from going over to Grudge by sitting on his flaw. Fear seemed to be complaining to Insecurity, who wasn't listening. Hazel and Frank were talking over the recent events, while Guilt occasionally joined in. So, it was normal. At least until Guilt suddenly collapsed. Frank caught her in the nick of time, and had just opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when everyone else rushed over. The flaws, especially, seemed concerned for their fellow flaw. And then, when everybody touched Guilt, or touched someone touching her, the golden light erupted around them.

Frank stiffened as he saw Leo. Or rather, Sammy—Hazel's old boyfriend. Leo shot him a panicked glance, like Frank might take a swing at him. Honestly, Frank didn't know what he _would_ have done to Leo if Hazel and Guilt hadn't both been holding him back. Frank stopped struggling once he saw the terrified, panic-stricken expression of Leo. _What the… what's happening to me? I don't do this stuff… why…_

Hazel-of-the-past was riding on a tan, proud horse with a flowing jet-black mane. She gripped the reins skillfully and softly urged the stallion to move swiftly, tossing a teasing grin behind her—to Sammy.

Sammy wore a plain, stained white shirt—untucked—over brown pants that were too short for him. He also wore a crazy grin, even as he shouted at Hazel to slow down, because she was "too fast" for him. Frank felt a familiar twinge of jealousy in his stomach, and he forced himself to not look at Leo. Otherwise he might go crazy again.

Sammy panted for breath along with his horse (a chestnut mare) and he made a stupid joke that made Hazel's eyes twinkle and her expression radiant. Frank looked away, but then he saw the half-smashed cupcake Sammy gave past Hazel. Hazel was crying, her gaze locked upon that cupcake. And then Leo kissed Hazel. _Frank's_ Hazel.

No. _Sammy_ kissed Hazel _in the past_. And it wasn't even on the lips. _Sammy._ Frank kept reminding himself. He was fine until Sammy said, "See you tomorrow!" to past Hazel.

Then, Hazel and Guilt broke down, crying, and Frank whirled around and punched Leo. Blood spurted out of his face. _Kissed Hazel… no, that was a long time ago… KISSED her… in the PAST… KISSED HER! It was IN THE PAST! A long time ago! KISSED her!_ And then everything was normal again. But nothing had happened. Leo wasn't bleeding. What… _I imagined punching him?! How sick is that? What's happening to me?_ A cold sweat broke over Frank.

He could wonder no more, because the golden light came again. This time they were standing in an old-fashioned school corridor. A stained plaque on the wall announced that they were in "St. Agnes Academy for Colored Children and Indians". Hazel instantly tensed. Frank temporarily forgot about his own problem (suddenly having violent tendencies _was_ definitely a problem), and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her.

In the memory, a grinning boy with dark skin like Hazel's and long, dirty, tangled hair approached a twelve-year-old Hazel. He spat on her shoes. "Cursed witch girl! Gimme some of them cursed diamonds! I want a ruby! C'mon, witch!" Past Hazel did nothing.

Frank couldn't stand it. His vision suddenly tunneled and the world turned red around him. He launched himself at the boy.

 **Okay, so now Frank is pretty much acting like a violent psychopath with anger management issues, while Grudge is being perfectly delightful.**

 **Completely the opposite of Frank's usual self, yeah? Any thoughts on why this could be? (I warned you that I would have some plot twists up my sleeve... wait. I didn't warn you. Oh well...)**

 **Hint: Pretty much everyone BUT the flaws will eventually be affected by what this is... Hera, you of all people (I mean, gods...) should know that every action has its consequences...**

 **Next update will either be on Thanksgiving (Thursday) or Friday. Hopefully Thursday, because I want to wish you guys a happy Thanksgiving or turkey day or however you want to call it.**


	7. The Weakness of Insecurity

**Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day, everyone! And if you don't celebrate this, feel free to roll your eyes at the screen.**

 **Luna, SuzuBells, greekgeekgirlbro, Readergirl6262, CrazyBlueOwl, awesomeninja09, and other people: Muwahaha... but it's not their dark side. And hopefully, they won't be traumatized either. ;)**

 **Readergirl6262: I would if I had more time... (read: I'm too lazy.)**

 **awesomeninja09, Dorian Havilliard, and pretty much everyone: Percy's will be after Frank's, so- soon! And you have no idea what I'll be plotting- uh, I mean, planning- for him!**

 **Sophia the daughter of Nyx, 069975688: Thanks! And to the-person-with-the-really-really-long-username: it was murder for me to type out that :P**

 **Enjoy the extra-long Turkey Day special! (I actually hit 3k... but this has a long A/N, so...)**

Hazel

Hazel was flattered. Shocked? Yes. Scared? Maybe… okay, yes. But she was also flattered, as strange as that sounded. It wasn't every day that her boyfriend tried to attack a memory in defense of a twelve-year-old, 1940s version of Hazel. But then again… said boyfriend was a son of the war god and could also shapeshift, to boot.

Hazel instinctively jumped forward, towards Frank, who was rapidly shifting forms—from a large, hairy boar, to a lithe lion with a mighty mane. When he was a boar, he snorted and shook his horns threateningly at the boy in the memory. When he was a lion, he roared menacingly. When he was a giant, proud eagle, he dived down at the boy, shrieking loudly. When he was a hissing, forest-green snake, he bared his fangs and flicked his forked tongue out in warning. Hazel frowned as she noted that every one of the animals were vicious and (for the most part) carnivorous. _This isn't like Frank… my memory isn't even that bad, really. Could it be because of the one with Sammy's cupcake? Should I have known that it would upset him that much? Why—?_

In the end, it was Grudge who stopped Frank. "Calm down, praetor! It's a _memory_. You're just going to waste energy attacking nothing." Strangely, that did the trick. The lion agilely landed on the ground and changed back to a flustered-looking Canadian. The back of his neck turned red and he rubbed it sheepishly, shifting his weight from one side to another. "Sorry… I wasn't thinking…" But then, he seemed to think of something, and he dropped his arms back down to his sides. Frank stopped avoiding eye contact and gazed defiantly at the group. Hazel decided to ignore his strange behavior—at least until her memories were over. Hazel smiled at Frank. He'd been willing to do that—for her!

But at the same time, things just didn't sit right with her. For one thing, Frank had started changing back to his human form when Grudge called him "praetor". It wasn't like Frank to let flattery influence him so much. Of course, Hazel was glad that it had worked, but… well, things were just _off_ , somehow.

However, when Hazel looked into Frank's familiar, reassuring, warm brown eyes, nothing looked amiss, so she turned back to watch the memory. Honestly, it wasn't even one of the worse memories she had of the Academy. There were worse. _Much_ worse.

Past Hazel was saved from the taunting boy by Sammy, who confidently swaggered up to Hazel, wearing his signature cheeky grin that reminded her so much of Leo. A wistful smile creeped over her expression, replaced by contentment as she glanced over to Frank, her friends, and all the flaws. Whatever was going on with Frank could be resolved. If two heads were better than one… _how about fifteen?_ "Witchcraft, you say?"

"The only witchcraft the lovely Miss Levesque has been doing is making an enchanted key, foolish peasant!" The jeering boy seemed consumed (most likely because he didn't know what "peasant" meant). Hazel remembered him—Robert hadn't exactly been the sharpest knife in the drawer. He wasn't even in the drawer—he was in the junkyard for scrap metal.

"What?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. _Maybe he wasn't_ quite _that stupid…_ Past Hazel stood there, caught between the two boys. Between Robert, the tough bully, and Sammy, her smart-aleck savior. It looked almost comical—two boys, one dressed in dirty clothes and an attitude, one dressed in equally dirty clothes and a pointy dunce cap, fighting over Hazel.

"You heard me!" Sammy looked severely affronted. "She's been making an enchanted key… a key that has unlocked the fortress of my iron heart!" he placed a hand over his heart, and Robert, disgusted, stalked away.

"Man, he's _smooth_!" Percy let out a low whistle.

"That was quite clever," Duty agreed reluctantly.

"Using humor to deflect… interesting strategy…" mused Annabeth.

"Did he just use the 'key to my heart' pickup line?!" Piper wrinkled her brow.

"So now I know where I get my 'awesome' genes from, eh?" Leo grinned, looking eerily similar to Sammy. Before anyone else could comment, Hera's divine light flashed around the group again. Honestly, Hazel was relieved. Leo and Sammy were just too alike. Watching Sammy was painful; she knew he was dead. Watching Leo? Even more so—she felt guilt-ridden about the whole Sammy/Leo thing, and possibly leading Leo on.

Hazel shielded her eyes with an arm, blocking the light. When she removed it gingerly, she was met with the sight of her and Leo— _not_ Sammy—holding hands and standing on the Argo II's deck, their eyes closed, beads of sweat dripping from their hairlines. Guilt started sniffling. Leo looked extremely uncomfortable, and his flaw was intensely focused on his pipe cleaners. (Hazel knew Leo was serious about his work, but… not even his flaw could be _that_ focused on what were essentially a couple of multicolored, fuzzy wires.)

Frank mumbled something Hazel couldn't hear under his breath, his arm brushing against hers. She turned her gaze to him, an eyebrow raised in question. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. You were just figuring stuff out about Sammy…" he trailed off. Hazel felt a wide smile stretching over her face. She hadn't even realized how immense the blame she felt about Leo was. But now, it was like a huge weight lifted off of her. She smiled ear-to-ear. Hazel knew that Percy and Annabeth had once taken turns carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. They'd gotten premature grey streaks on their hair from it. If the guilt was her world, then Hazel's hair would be jumping for joy. (In fact, it was unusually springy.)

Hazel didn't notice Frank fighting to keep control of his mind as he apologized. She didn't notice how he struggled to keep his face stoic, his voice calm. Then she did, and felt responsibility once more. But then it disappeared as quickly as it'd come, just as there was another flash of light.

Now they were standing in a room with a dirty white curtain as a makeshift door, and several unopened, brown mailing boxes scattered haphazardly across the floor. A ragged armchair, a table or two, and a single woman wearing a curious mixture of a waitress' uniform and mystical-looking clothing occupied the room. " _Poisoned child! The root of all my troubles!_ " The woman frowned at herself. "No. She's my daughter!" A face peeked through a slit in the curtain—Hazel recognized her younger self. " _She's no daughter of mine!_ " Frank gripped Haze's hand tightly as her past self noiselessly retreated from the curtain, and Queen Marie laughed.

More golden light. This time, it was Hazel in her cabin on the Argo II. She was curled upon the bed, forming a crescent shape. The covers had been flung to the floor, but past Hazel was fully clothed. Tears streamed silently down her face as she slept fitfully. "I'm sorry… please forgive me?" _Oh no…_ "I didn't know that the ruby was cursed… sorry, Mr. Henry… sorry, Mr. Gasceaux…"

Jason raised an eyebrow, and Hazel started to explain softly. "Mr. Henry died after my mother gave him a ruby. Charlie Gasceaux lost his arm after he bought a golden bracelet." Even just saying that left a bitter taste in Hazel's mouth.

Hazel snuck a peek at Guilt. After all, these memories all had something to do with her… Guilt seemed stoic enough, though her impassive expression looked very forced. But… _at least she's not crying._ Immediately, Hazel felt ashamed to think that. _Wait! Why should I feel like that?!_ Hazel's mind shouted at another part of her. _Because it's the right thing to do!_ Her stomach twanged. _Sure it is… sure…_ Her heart started to tap dance. _It is! Guilt never hurt anyone!_ Her insides lurched unpleasantly. _Yeah? Then tell me—why is guilt a_ fatal flaw _then, hmm?_ Her conscience had no reply.

She was going to throw up. Bile rose into her throat, but she stubbornly swallowed it back down. She felt coldness. Everything looked dark. Images of her past danced in her vision; there was her mother, controlled by the Voice, and there was Mr. Gasceaux's bloody, mangled arm, still wearing the bracelet, and there was Robert taunting her, and there was the evil rock spire… the rock she had helped to raise. _You don't need all of this—any of this! All you have to do is relax and let go._

"Hazel? Are you alright?" someone asked. Hazel couldn't respond. Her insides were fighting a war, with her body as a battlefield, and with her mind being the sought-after prize. What was happening? Was it a side effect of watching her memories? Was she delirious? _What is—?_

And then, suddenly, everything was back to normal again. Hazel stood up shakily—she hadn't even noticed that she'd fallen to the ground. "I—I 'm okay. Just… it must be a side effect of watching these memories." Even to herself, she didn't sound convincing in the slightest. Hazel would be surprised if anyone actually took her word for it.

Frank looked doubtful, but Hazel sent him a pleading glance. _Come on, please let it go… Let it go… let go…_ Hazel fought to keep her dueling mind under control. She had a splitting headache. _I need ambrosia… is this how the gods feel about the whole Greek/Roman thing?_

As soon as she thought that, a tray of ambrosia appeared on the ground, accompanied by a note in the same scrawled cursive as before. Hazel sighed in relief as Jason handed to note to Frank to read, forcing him to turn away from Hazel. "Well, if you say so… Hera just told us to keep going with the memories," Jason said (somewhat apologetically), smiling like she's-Hera-we-can't-do-anything-about-it-sadly. Hazel nodded, gratefully gulping down the ambrosia, which tasted of shrimp gumbo (Percy would have a fit), her favorite food from New Orleans. Ambrosia had always tasted slightly bitter to Hazel, but now it was just sweet.

After the golden light cleared, Hazel instantly wished she hadn't nodded. Not that it would make any difference, anyway. This place was the island where she'd died. And Grudge and Guilt could sense that too, apparently.

"Giant… my mother… _Gaea_ …" Guilt muttered.

Past Hazel stood knee-deep in a pile of precious gems. They glittered harshly, surrounding a tall, jagged rock spire that reminded Hazel ridiculously of a unicorn's horn. A vague, humanoid shape was embedded within the rock, silver and gold studding its body. Oil fell in tiny drips off the rock, but when past Hazel glanced at it, it stopped. A cache of jewels that must have been worth millions was the heart—raw diamonds, uncut, uncleaned, and yet still sparkling was the rock-encased giant's heart. Past Hazel looked around and then up at the rock, which was steadily growing taller, the precious metals in its body rising like the tide.

Queen Marie, who did not look like a queen, fell to her knees, despairingly looking from the spire to Hazel and back again. Past Hazel knelt next to her mother and said something, but Hazel wasn't listening. She stared at her mother, drinking in the moment hungrily. She hadn't seen her mother for so long. And now, she could see her again. Hera had given her a chance to revisit the bittersweet memory.

She—Marie—was painfully thin. Just skin and bones, really. Her clothes, a waitress' uniform for the only cheap diner that would hire her, was torn, bloodied, and stained. Her face was gaunt, her hair grey prematurely.

She was beautiful.

Hazel was vaguely aware that her past self and her mother were talking, but she knew what they were saying anyway. Instead, she gazed at her mother's eyes. They were warm, tender, loving—beautiful.

 _All this, because your mother was greedy!_ Gaea's silky voice purred in the memory. The demigods all stiffened. Percy had his hand in his pocket, ready to uncap Riptide in an instant. Duty, Loyalty, Pride, Jason, and Annabeth already had weapons drawn. Piper glared at the memory alongside Leo, who sent an understanding glance at Guilt (who glanced back). Insecurity, Grudge, Fear, Inferiority, and Frank scowled, though Inferiority seemed sad— _Gaea messed with his life too…_ Gaea cackled again. _Now, Alcyoneus will wake, and soon, so shall I!_

"Hazel, go! You must hurry!" Her mother rose up.

"No! I won't live for that." Frank hugged Hazel tightly, and to her surprise, so did Grudge. Nobody pulled away from the impromptu group hug. It felt… nice. At least until oil bubbled in the spire. A crack formed. The air turned blisteringly hot. Only Leo and his flaw didn't wince from the heat. Metals and jewels and oil and rock and shrapnel and gold and more and more jewels flew through the air, causing the group to duck collectively, though they passed right through the memory-watchers.

The roof feel. The spire cracked ominously, and the group of fifteen scattered, instinctively running for cover. A huge chunk of gold flew through Hazel's arm. It pinched slightly, but otherwise had no effect on her. _So we really can't get hurt in these memories…_ Hazel ran through the gritty, hazy, dust-filled air, and towards her past self and her mother.

She caught sight of them, and had time to think _she is a queen_ before—

Her mother wrapped her arms around past Hazel, and together they sank into the frigid Alaskan waters, until the golden light flashed.

* * *

Grudge suddenly crossed over to where Hazel was and softly kissed Hazel and Guilt on the cheek. Hazel smiled at him, warmth spreading through her unexpectedly, and all the others, who had all gathered around her. "I'm fine, guys," she said, and she truly meant it. Watching her memories had actually helped. She felt her guilt about raising the giant fade away, tucked into a distant corner of her mind. Subconsciously, she stood up a little straighter, a little taller, and a lot less burdened.

"Good!" Frank grinned suddenly and crashed his lips against hers. Normally, he never would have done that. And normally, Hazel would never have responded. But… well, things weren't normal. Or at least, that's what Hazel tried to convince herself was the reason. Right? When they broke apart, the others shifted, red-faced, not used to seeing the couple be so public. Guilt and Insecurity were completely red.

"Okay, um… how about it be my turn for memories?" Frank simply shrugged at his flaw, and Hazel just had time to think that he was still acting strangely before the flash of light emitted again.

Like a camera zoomed in on a single subject, at first, all Hazel could see was a brightly colored red and black ribbon. Then, she blinked and saw the smooth silver disk attached to the ribbon. It seemed very heavy and solid—Hazel could sense that it was the real deal. An important medallion, for sure. It was held in a rough man's hand almost gingerly, his palm flat.

"Frank, your mother is a hero," the man, dressed in full army regalia, said, holding out the medal to a boy Hazel realized was Frank with a jolt of surprise. Past Frank's face was drawn, and he looked like he hadn't slept well for several weeks. The two stood in a living room furnished with Chinese antiques and various figurines. There were several comfortable-looking chairs, but neither sat.

Past Frank made no move to take the medal, instead staring blankly at the man.

"Your mother is a hero," the officer repeated, more softly this time.

"Is? _Was!_ " Insecurity stepped forward, his gaze locked upon the memory. Hazel subtly brushed her hand across Frank's—enough to let him know she was there for him.

"Captain Emily Zhang died trying to save her comrades."

Mutters, gasps of realization, and many pitying glances were thrown around the room. Frank stiffened as his past self grabbed the medal of sacrifice and ran out the room.

Immediately, there was a flash of light again. This time, Frank looked about four, utterly adorable, running happily through an overgrown yard. A woman's sweet voice called out for him to not go too far, but he ran towards the woods on the side of the yard anyway. And there was a huge grizzly bear.

 **Now Hazel is affected... so that's two out of seven so far that are acting strangely... _Or is it?_ Maybe the others are behaving oddly as well, but Hazel just didn't notice?**

 **And remember, after I finish Frank's next chapter, I'm going to start Percy's! This will be updated sometime Monday-Wednesday, because Frank's and Percy's takes some planning... Anyone going to annoy store clerks on Black Friday?**


	8. Loyal to a Fault

**SuzuBells: Thanks for asking! It was pretty good (other than dropping the pie while taking it out of the oven, :P). Totally agree with you about Hera.**

 **The Awkward Narwhal: Thanks! And she'll be last out of the Seven, but before Nico's. That's just the way it worked out.**

 **greekgeekgirlbro: Aww! Thank you!**

 **Dorian Havilliard: Well, I didn't put this story in as Angst... :)**

 **Luna: Heh, here it is... on _Monday_... sorry; I had to do that :P**

 **FireSkyLeaf: Wow! That's an awesome theory! I'm not going to confirm/deny it for now, since that might be a spoiler. But if you're reading this right now- just. Wow. Thank _you_ for reading this!**

 **Others (sorry, my fingers are getting tired from typing so much): Thank you all for reading/reviewing/following/favoriting! I might not respond to most of you, but please be aware that I read every single review and note everyone who follows/favorites. ;)**

Jason

Jason felt really terrible. What kind of a friend was he? He hadn't even realized Hazel or Frank's flaws were so… fatal? Flaw-like? And Hazel… he kept sneaking glances at her (which wasn't helping his case with Piper) to make sure she was okay. She'd just watched herself _die_ after inadvertently helping Gaea, for Jupiter's sake! So when he caught sight of the huge bear headed straight towards past Frank, Jason could only roll his eyes and wonder _does_ anyone _have a normal childhood?!_ Of course, he couldn't talk. He was literally raised by wolves.

"Our lives are never normal, are they?" grumbled Piper. Jason turned to smile at her, but then stopped abruptly. She was still ignoring him over the… uh, _incident_ with Duty. And he couldn't blame her. Duty was a jerk. And since he was technically a part of Jason… was Jason a jerk, too? Jason had to admit that he'd always known in the back of his mind that Reyna would be the logical choice for him. The conventional path. The _Roman_ path. But he never liked her in _that_ way. It wasn't fair for Reyna. Piper, though… she was something else. And now he'd messed it all up. _I need to talk to her again. Hera has to let us eat lunch, right? Then I'll explain…_

A woman suddenly ran to four-year-old Frank's side, bringing Jason's attention back to the memory. She was pretty, with dark hair tied in a high ponytail and kind brown eyes. _Wait…_ she wasn't even out of breath! Jason could've sworn that she had been leaning out of an attic window just a few moments before. There was no way she should've been able to get to Frank that quickly. There had to be a couple flights of stairs, several doors… the distance of the yard… the only plausible explanation was that she flew.

Jason clapped his hand on his forehead, ignoring Leo's amused smirk. _Duh! Frank's shapeshifting was passed down from his mother's side of the family!_ "Run, Frank!" she cried urgently. Memory Frank obeyed, stumbling over uneven patches of grass, leaving his mother standing there with the bear.

The memory suddenly shifted positions (there was no other way to describe it), following Frank instead of his mother. Past Frank turned at the house's back porch, his head tilted in confusion. "Mama Bear just needed directions," his mother shrugged, smiling as she jogged up to him.

"This is the second time I've had to watch this!" Insecurity complained. "First at Iris', now here…" Pretty much ignored him, as Hera's gold light flashed to signal another memory. At least until he began to scream wildly, his eyes wide and his arms waving around like a madman's. Jason jumped back in surprise when the crazed flaw ran in front of him.

" _No! Get it_ away from me _!_ " he yelled, running to duck behind the bulkier Frank, his eyes wide. "Fire! I knew he was trouble! _I knew it!_ He's out to get me, I tell you!"

Jason turned to see Leo completely engulfed in hot flames, flickering harshly. "I—I can't control it! What's happening?" Jason ran to Leo's side, but when he touched Leo's bare skin, he recoiled. The son of Hephaestus' skin was too hot to touch. Smoke filled the air, making it hard to breathe. Jason wished he could make it rain or something. Sadly, he couldn't.

"Oh, gods… _I'm so sorry…_ don't touch me! I could hurt you…" Jason blinked at his best friend's tone. He'd never seen the fire-user so… he didn't know the right word. _He looks like his flaw—Inferiority... his flaw is—_

"Inferiority!" Piper coughed hoarsely, on Leo's other side. "Put out… the flames!" Jason nodded, realizing what she meant. Only Leo and his counterpart could stand the extreme, burning heat.

But the flaw was paralyzed. "No… not again… _NOT AGAIN…_ can't lost control _again_!" Jason looked around desperately, and his blue eyes landed on Percy's sea-green ones.

"Help!" Jason yelled over the chorus of the flaws' screaming and hysterics. From the corner of his eye, he saw Pride urgently yelling something to Annabeth, who was clutching her head in pain. She doubled over, squeezing her eyes shut. Fear, Piper, Duty, Guilt, and Hazel were by Leo. Frank was trying to coax his flaw out from behind him. Grudge surveyed the scene, with something unreadable in his eyes. Inferiority was still frozen, as Jason and the two versions of Percy stood on the side. Strangely, Jason didn't feel embarrassed in the least to be asking Percy for help. _It must be because of the situation. Maybe._

Loyalty instantly understood and ran forward, shooting out water from… nowhere. Well, Jason supposed that it was from the water molecules in the air, but the overall effect looked very cool. _Focus, Jason!_ Leo's flaw seemed to snap out of it and started to… hug Leo? Jason realized that he was putting out the fire on the flaming Latino boy. Together, the two flaws smothered the flames.

"What… the Hades was that?" Annabeth coughed, seeming to recover from her headache. She was upright now, leaning on her flaw, though her face still held tints of green.

"I lost control…" Leo looked scared and vulnerable, and kept shaking his head like everything would just go away. Jason impulsively went over to his friend and hugged him. "It felt like my head was splitting apart, and I felt all weird, like my brain was fighting itself. I'm so sorry… did anyone get hurt?" Then, a weird change came over him. His expression switched to one of… Jason couldn't really describe it. He looked angry, purposeful, obstinate—but also sarcastic, self-assured, and smug. It was unsettling. "Sorry, was I too _hot_ for you?" he quipped, wriggling his way out of Jason's arms.

Jason frowned. Frist Hazel and Frank had begun acting strangely. Now Leo was having rapid mood swings and "felt weird". Heck, even Percy had seemed out of character—wasn't his flaw _loyalty_? So why had he frozen, instead of helping Leo? It had been Loyalty who shot out water. And to top it off, Jason suspected that he himself was affected too. And even though Annabeth looked fine after her migraine... she still looked nauseous. _Like my brain was fighting itself._

 _No, stop! Those aren't related! You're just being paranoid. Piper and all the flaws are normal, right? But what should we do now?_

"Guys, it was a freak accident—by a _Greek_ , no less—so let's just get on with watching the memory!" Duty snapped, irritably glaring at Leo. Jason scowled at him, but his mind was whirring. That was what they were supposed to be doing—watching the memory. _So why didn't I say that? I mean, it's my job to keep us all on track, isn't it?_ Suddenly, bile rose in Jason's throat. He forced it back down, but then his head felt like it was being hammered by a large Cyclops (not that he knew what that felt like). _No! Not your job! We're all equals here! And we've got plenty of time!_ Jason smelled something burning. His hair. He quickly willed it to go away, and after some effort, the sensation stopped. What was going on? _Like my brain was fighting itself…_

There were a few death threats towards Duty, but everyone turned to watch the half-finished memory anyway.

"—when that piece of firewood burns up, his life will end!" A woman dressed in a goatskin cloak gestured at another woman holding a little baby boy in her arms. An older, sterner-looking woman that Jason presumed was Frank's grandmother was also in the room, which was the same as the living room in Frank's first memory. However, now it looked more maintained and less cluttered. Jason felt a pang of sadness that this young woman, so full of life, would die fighting in a war. _But at least she loved him…_

"What?! How is this possible?" Grandmother Zhang started, but fell silent as the goatskin-clad goddess—Juno, of course— said something else in a language Jason recognized as Mandarin Chinese. Judging by Insecurity's awestruck expression, she'd spoken it fluently, at that. He assumed she was explaining about the wood, since both women in the memory were nodding (albeit unhappily), while baby Frank gurgled. Jason expected him to blush, but to his surprise, Frank didn't—Insecurity did. At the same time, he stared at an ornate fireplace that was crackling with warm flames. Larger wood pieces in the center were already half-consumed, but one smaller piece of tinder was at the edge of the pile, and had not yet caught flame.

Suddenly, the unassuming piece of wood that now controlled Frank's life burst into fiery life. Insecurity cringed, but memory-Frank's-mother quickly ran towards the fireplace and snatched up the wood, blowing out the flames. The flash of light that signaled a new memory blended in perfectly with the rising flames in the fireplace.

Frank absentmindedly touched his pocket (Jason guessed that was probably where the firewood was) and watched impassively as the memory showed his former self, trudging along a snow-covered road, shivering in a light jacket. The snow was a few feet high, and piles of snow lined the sides of the road. Past Frank was the only living thing in sight. Everything was white, and there were no cheerful houses along the route Frank took. His path was marked clearly by the tread of his solitary boots.

"S-so cold…" past Frank muttered, gazing down at a small objet clutched in his hands. _The wood!_ Jason watched intently as memory Frank turned the wood over in his large, gloveless hands. "If this is really firewood…" Suddenly, the piece of wood burst into hot flames, and past Frank dropped it, his eyes wide with fear. He dove down frantically, unmindful of the snow, and thrust the wood into a nearby snowbank. When the fire finally went out, he sat back on his heels, panting heavily, ignoring the cold ground. There was a flash.

Now, Frank was stumbling around in a room Jason recognized as Camp Jupiter's armory—Duty winced as past Frank sent a stack of freshly polished shields flying when he tripped over a huge sword lying on its side, dirtying it. He bent down to pick it up, but knocked over a rack of newly crafted spears instead. Reyna stood in the doorway, frowning. (Jason felt Fear's glare boring into the back of his skull, though they stood a good distance away from each other.)

"Frank… why don't you go back to your quarters now?" she suggested, gently shoving him out. Or at least as gently as she could _shove_ him, anyway. "I'll get someone else to finish up here." Past Frank nodded, looking both relieved and embarrassed. Out of the armory, he scowled, but in a defeated way.

"I can't do _anything_ right…"

A flashing montage of Frank's memories played out. Frank tripping over his own feet while marching (Duty sniffed)—Frank being scolded by his grandmother (Insecurity winced)—Frank glumly staring down at his feet (Frank seemed to have no reaction to this)—Frank jealously watching Hazel laugh at Leo's jokes (Guilt and Inferiority looked down)—it was all Frank being insecure. Jason watched in disbelief as many everyday occurrences (to him, at least) were shown in Frank's perspective. Things that seemed ordinary to Jason were apparently a big deal to the praetor. _If Insecurity is like this… what's Inferiority like? I should talk to Leo._

Then came the last memory. Frank, Hazel, Percy, and their respective flaws all gasped in recognition, and Jason did too. It was basically a giant frozen replica of Camp Jupiter, only… it was completely deserted, except for five figures—Hazel, Percy, Hazel's horse, Arion, Frank, and… death himself. Thanatos. Jason wasn't interested in guys, but… death was beautiful. His dark skin was flawless, and his shoulder-length hair gave him an air of mystery. He was muscular, but not in a bodybuilder way. His features were timeless, impeccable. He… _okay, stop gawking at the god!_ Grudge hissed in recognition. Then, suddenly, the ghostly camp flickered to life (well, not _life,_ but… deathly life?). Ghosts holding armor and various weapons rode on shimmering black steeds that surrounded the demigods. Jason heard the people and god in the memory speaking, but the presence of death… it was overpowering.

"It's not fair!" past Frank said angrily.

" _Fair?_ Is it _fair_ that your life will burn so short and bright? Was it _fair_ when I guided your mother to the Underworld?" Death sounded sad about death, ironically. Past Frank staggered backwards, his eyes wide.

"So, how do we break those chains?" past Percy asked, fingering his bronze sword nervously.

"Only the fire of life can melt the chains of death." The response came instantly. Immediately, the group of memory-watchers started speaking at once.

"That's not fair!"

"Are you _kidding_ me?"

"Seriously? Death is an idiot! A hot idiot, but still an idiot!"

Jason was tempted to yell out as well, but he focused on the memory with difficulty. Past Frank unwrapped his firewood and knelt down next to Thanatos. He held the piece of tinder next to one of four chains. It blazed to life, and past Frank started to tremble. The icy chains began to melt. Slowly. _Hurry UP!_ Jason wanted to scream. The flames were blinding, and past Frank was starting to convulse.

The wood was halfway burned through.

Past Frank moved it to the second—the third—chain on Thanatos.

"I can see his life force waning…" Grudge said casually, like he was commenting on the weather (for reference: snowy). Jason wanted to punch him. _Wait, what? Why would I punch him? That's just how he is. It's not even Nico himself. Punching him would be impulsive… am I impulsive? Not usually…_

Finally, the third chain snapped apart. The group watched with nail-biting anxiety until at last, the last chain broke apart. Jason held his breath until past Frank thrust the wood into a pile of snow, putting the flame out. Instead, golden light emitted.

They were back at Camp Half-Blood! However, there was a folded note in Loyalty's hand. He unfolded it suspiciously and haltingly read, "It's your turn, Percy. From Hera, of course." Something strange happened then. Percy began cursing in Greek. Like, a lot. Jason was glad he couldn't understand. Annabeth tried to calm him down, but to no avail. Jason's curiosity was piqued. What did Percy have to hide? _Well, nobody likes watching their memories…_

"Smelly Gabe—" Who was "Smelly" Gabe? In response to his unspoken thought, Hera sent the gold flash again and Jason saw a greasy-haired, obese mortal clutching a half-empty beer can. Jason gagged from the stench.

Percy crossed his arms grimly. " _That's_ Smelly Gabe."

 **I was going to put the rest of the memory in as well, but... ah, well, evilness gets in the way of that. This will be updated on Friday/over the weekend, and check out my profile if you want to know what I'm going to include for that chapter.**

 **Anyone have an idea for a memory I could include for Percy? Ones _not_ in the books themselves, but could have actually happened? I will be including some from the books, but I want some others as well. Thanks, my little minions ;)**


	9. Lunchtime Dramatics

**RoseBadwolf1000: Thanks for the advice, and suggestions, I've kept that in mind :)**

 **CrazyBlueOwl, Guests (all SEVEN of you), DiamondTruth2, Fiercest-Dreamer, Dorian Havilliard, princessmelz, ResidentOfCabin6, Luna: Thanks for all the suggestions! I think I included most of them, but not all... I have to keep Percy's memories to roughly the same length as everyone else's, so I tried to pick the most loyal memories.**

 **Ruby: I will reveal all in the next chapter, hopefully. That's a really good theory... no spoilers as of yet. ;)**

 **Rosycat: Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying it!**

 **8DemigodRunner8: Awesome, thanks! I have no idea what my writing style is, to be honest. But thanks for informing me!**

 **SuzuBells: I know, right? I didn't really think about it before...**

 **greekgeekgirlbro: Why, thank you. *bows***

 **Anyone else I might have missed: Thanks for the review/s!**

 **Okay, I know I said I was going to include some of the lunch scenes, but Percy's memories take a long time. All that lunchtime drama will come next chapter. And this week is my birthday!**

Piper

Piper wrinkled her nose in disgust, stepping back a bit—no, a _lot_. Even though it was just a memory… damn, it _reeked_. Alcohol and smelly feet and unwashed clothing… she could definitely see why Percy called the overweight mortal "Smelly" Gabe. But the troubling bit of it was that she had no idea who the poker-playing man was. Percy, Annabeth, and their flaws were on edge. And based on Percy's cussing (did all sons of Poseidon have dirty mouths? First Arion, now Percy… oh gods. They were related!), he definitely didn't have a good opinion of the foul-smelling poker player.

"Who in Hades is _that_?" Jason looked appalled. Piper felt for him—his mother had been an alcoholic. This couldn't have been good for him. But then she remembered. _He prefers Reyna…_ she managed to get her emotions under control.

She couldn't say that she hadn't expected it. But she thought that maybe… maybe he would choose her. But apparently not. _Look at me, the daughter of the love goddess..._ she swallowed. _Enough self-pity. I don't_ need _a boyfriend!_ But the thing that hurt the most was that Jason hadn't even tried to apologize to her. Sure, he'd stumbled over an explanation, but Piper didn't want one. She just wanted a meaningful apology. Was that too much to ask for?

A nudge in her side form Leo jolted her attention back to the memory. "Sally! Get your stinkin' but over here!" Gabe yawned, showing off his (very) yellow, crooked teeth. He reclined lazily on a plush armchair, holding a beer can in one hand and a TV remote in the other. Both his shoes and socks were off, and his feet were propped up on a low coffee table cluttered with card decks and assorted beer cans. Though the memory-watchers were halfway across the room from him, Piper could still smell the stained, worn carpet and the alcohol on Gabe's breath. She shuddered. Who was this guy? What did he have to do with Percy?

"Coming, Gabe, dear!" a woman with bright eyes smiled cheerfully as she walked in, humming an upbeat tune. Piper smiled, though she wasn't even sure what for. Percy's, mom, Sally, just had that kind of effect on people. Her face, though lined, was warm and welcoming. _So this must be Percy's stepdad… but I thought he was nice? Percy mentioned he was named Paul Blowfish or something…_

"Hey, Seaweed Brain, it's alright," Annabeth nudged Percy.

"I thought I would never have to see his ugly mug after Mom turned him to stone…" _Oh! This is his_ first _stepfather! The one Sally used Medusa's head on!_

"Good riddance!" Inferiority spat, his gaze locked upon the booze.

"That—" Hazel started saying some not-very-nice things in Latin.

Insecurity was livid, while Frank looked like he wanted to punch Gabe's lights out. Of course, Gabe didn't seem very bright, so he might not have had any lights to speak of.

Despite herself, Piper glanced at Jason and Duty. For once, they wore the same expression—disgust and utter revulsion.

"I want some salsa and chips for me and my poker buddies, Sally!" Gabe yelled.

"We've run out, honey!" Piper wondered how she could stay so upbeat. Had Percy really had to live with this… monster? She cursed at the disgusting mortal.

"Then go _buy_ some, dammit!" With a roar, Gabe launched the half-empty beer can across the room. It slid across the floor, staining the carpet even more.

Sally's knuckles were white. Without a word, she spun on her heel, briskly walking out the room. Piper heard a door slamming shut loudly. Smelly Gabe merely yawned again and laughed cruelly.

"What's your _problem_?!" someone spat. Piper turned, expecting to see one of the flaws. But instead, she saw a nine- or ten-year old Percy standing in the doorway.

"I've got no problem, brat," Gabe popped the lid of another can of booze, casually licking his lips.

"I _hate_ you!" past Percy yelled furiously.

Smelly Gabe rose—all the demigods plugged their noses from the stench. "Yeah?" he growled, hefting up a full beer can like a baseball. "Come up here and say that to my face like a man!"

Very bravely—or stupidly (probably both)—past Percy glared defiantly and stepped towards Gabe. With astonishing speed, Gabe hurled the can at past Percy. The metal and Percy's face barely missed each other. "No—good—useless—brat—son—of—a—bit—" Piper's hands curled into fists. She moved her hand towards her side, where her knife was strapped. _IF THAT PIG HURTS PERCY…_

" _Don't call my mother that!"_ Loyalty and past Percy simultaneously launched themselves at the disgusting excuse for a human being. Piper wanted to torture the guy. Then kill him. Slowly. And _painfully_. Annabeth and Pride managed to restrain Loyalty with difficulty, glaring daggers at Gabe themselves. However, they had to watch past Percy without interference. Gabe simply stepped to the side, and past Percy missed and crashed into a bookcase.

"Did he—that—Gabe—he really—" Annabeth glared furiously, clutching her knife so tightly that Piper was sure she would have imprints of the hilt on her fingers.

"That stupid, sick excuse for a—" Piper growled.

"Holy crap!" Inferiority and Insecurity glared at each other.

" _Gods of Olympus!_ " Duty's eyes blazed.

"The Hades—that better be a one-time thing!" Leo and Fear.

"I want to kill him, then use his dead body to—" Grudge started.

"Gods, guys! You're overreacting; that only happened that one time—"

" _Shut the Hades up, Percy!"_ Pride exploded.

"We're not overreacting!" Guilt took a deep breath.

"He should get arrested for that!" Jason and Frank.

"He could have _killed_ you!" Hazel.

"I wish I killed him when I had the chance." Loyalty shut everyone up.

There was a gold flash. Now, Percy looked older—Piper guessed that he was around thirteen. The group stood in a long school hallway lined with motivational posters like "You Can Do It!" (Some idiot with a preschool sense of humor had changed it to "You _Can't_ Do It!") Piper rolled her eyes, watching past Percy.

He was facing off with an average-sized guy with shaggy black hair dressed in brands Piper recognized as ones that were very expensive, though they looked like they came from a charity clothing drop box.

"Listen, Jackson—you could be cool if you ditch that loser!" the boy shrugged casually. Piper wondered who he meant by "loser". Grover? Someone else?

"I hate Matt Sloan," Loyalty growled. _The rich guy must be him…_

"I would never 'ditch' Tyson, Sloan!" past Percy glared, his arms crossed. Piper laughed at Sloan's stunned, dumbfounded expression as past Percy ambled away smugly.

Another flash—now they were on some sort of beach. The sky was cloudlessly blue, and Piper heard soft waves gently breaking in the distance. There was a lush meadow in the distance, along with a huge—a _huge_ flower garden.

Percy, Leo, and their flaws gasped in recognition. Piper's mind raced. _Beach, probably an island, Leo and Percy—_ oh! Her eyes wandered to two distant figures—a female and a male.

The girl was beautiful, with a timeless face, flowing hair, and a sweet scent. Calypso. The boy was Percy, of course. They stood, talking intensely. Piper jogged closer to them to hear their conversation, followed by the others.

"You could stay with me, Percy." Piper sensed the romantic tension between the two—Calypso obviously liked Percy.

Annabeth actually _growled_ at past Calypso. Past Percy stared into the red sunrise, his forehead wrinkled. A peaceful expression and a relaxed posture made the entire scene look like a tourist brochure. _Come one, come all! Join us on this enchanted (literally) island for a relaxing tropical vacation!_ While Annabeth/Pride looked angry at Percy and Calypso, her face betrayed her curiosity. After all, nobody except Percy and Leo had ever actually been on Ogygia.

Briefly, Piper wondered what would have happened if _she_ were Percy or Leo. Would she have stayed or left? Percy could have escaped the prophecy. Leo would have simply quit the Giant War, and escape the line about _to storm or fire the world must fall_. Both would have been safe, on an island with a beautiful girl for eternity. _Would Jason have stayed?_ Immediately, Piper shook the thought aside. She'd been overreacting about what Duty said, perhaps?

"I can't. My friends need me." A gold flash, just barely masking the joyful grin on Annabeth's face.

The group was now in a desert… of sorts. Piper shook her head to clear it. There was a… giant metal statue… hitting itself in the face? All around the automaton were heaps of various junk—Piper spotted a broken dagger, a toy piano, and what looked like a giant sculpture of a lightbulb, of all things. It was like the gods' scrapyard. In fact, it probably was. Around the gigantic piles stood several figures (not including the bronze giant). Five, to be exact.

"Talos!" growled Loyalty, his eyes blazing.

"That's Hephaestus' junkyard!" Annabeth exclaimed, gesturing at the huge piles of discarded metals.

" _BIANCA IS IN THERE!_ " Grudge screamed, his throat raw. Piper gasped, horrified. Nico's sister was in the bronze machine—Talos? She vaguely recalled Percy telling her how Nico's sister (not Hazel) had died to save Percy on a quest. She felt a stone drop into her gut. The pain and emotion in Grudge's voice… Nico… _Grudge._

A Hunter of Artemis (Piper guessed it was Zo _ë_ , the lieutenant before Thalia) yelled something about Bianca, and past Percy, wide-eyed, screamed for Bianca to watch out for a nearby power line.

But it was too late. The giant metal monster tripped over the power line and began to spark and go crazy. An arm fell off. Piper ducked, and a huge finger whistled by, narrowly avoiding her. The head nearly fell on Frank, who leaped to the side just in time. Then it crumbled to bronze dust, leaving nothing behind. Piper craned her neck, searching for a figure in the wreckage.

There was none. Bianca di Angelo was gone.

Loyalty and Grudge both trembled as Hera's light flashed once more, and Piper blinked furiously.

Now Percy and Annabeth's past selves were fighting back-to-back on a crowded bridge, vaporizing dozens of monsters. Now Percy was concentrating, manipulating a personal hurricane. He fought a scowling Titan, who shot out blinding beams of light. Hyperion. Then he was small again—maybe eight years old—sitting on his bed in the dead of night. "Maybe I should run away," he whispered. Then he shook his head. "No. Mom…" he crawled into his covers. During that memory, nobody spoke. Except Grudge.

His voice was raspy and hoarse. "You let Bianca die."

Piper wanted to go give him a hug, but figured that wouldn't work out well. Loyalty bowed his head down. Percy stayed silent. Grudge looked like he was about to boil over; however, when the light flashed, he stopped.

Piper steadied herself as the flash cleared. That was the good thing… the bad thing? Piper hadn't exactly wanted to pay a visit to Tartarus… but then again, neither had Percy. Nor Annabeth. Nor Nico, for that matter… and speaking of Nico, Grudge became pale at the sight of the new memory, his anger at Percy over Bianca temporarily forgotten.

Piper had seen photos of famine victims before. They looked like the goddess standing in front of past Percy and Annabeth—stick-thin, swollen joints, ragged clothing, emaciated limbs, caked skin, sunken eyes, greasy hair, bleeding cheeks—the whole deal. In front of her stood Percy and Annabeth, along with a silver-haired Titan—Iapetus/Bob. They were talking, but Piper focused on the landscape around them.

Tartarus… it was horrible. That was the best way she could describe it. Horrible. And Percy and Annabeth looked so tired and worn out. Their eyes spoke of the horrors they'd seen. She couldn't even begin to imagine what had happened down there. Sure, they'd told their story, but without much description—Piper got the feeling they simply _couldn't_ describe the endless abyss. The pit felt alive, even in a memory. They were standing on the body of Tartarus.

Her attention was drawn to the goddess, Akhlys, again as Percy scowled and Loyalty made a whimpering sound. The goddess flicked her wrist, and suddenly past Percy and Annabeth looked… _dead_. Percy's hair was matted, chunks falling out. Mist swirled around him, and Annabeth looked the same. Their shoulders slumped, and even their arms looked half-rotted. Sunken eyes sockets and the hollow, resigned posture of the couple added to the effect. Add that to the stick-thin goddess wailing while brandishing her claws, the dark surroundings, and bleak atmosphere—it was a scene straight out of a nightmare. The pit _was_ a nightmare. Piper knew they'd had to use the Death Mist, but… wow. She became aware of Akhlys cackling with insane laughter as the goddess of misery grew claws and attacked past Percy.

Piper could barely watch the mostly one-sided fight, even if Percy was "insulting" Akhlys with compliments like "cuddly" and "fuzzy". (Fuzzy? Seriously?) But then past Percy was trapped on a tiny island made entirely of smoke.

Past Annabeth was battling Akhlys, but Akhlys pretty much ignored her, sending a poison flood straight at past Percy. He glared at the fumes. Piper shrank away. He—Percy—he looked so _powerful_ —angry—

The poison suddenly blew backwards, back at the goddess. She shrieked, wailing in tortured agony, tearing at her hair. She began to choke and splutter. Her eyes watered, and past Percy manipulated the liquid of her tears to choke her even more. Piper felt cold, and it had nothing to do with the temperature. There was a maniacal gleam in past Percy's eyes—he _wanted_ to choke the goddess, to drown her, to kill her.

"She _deserved_ it!" Loyalty bellowed, glaring daggers at anyone that dared to meet his gaze. Percy didn't look so sure. In fact, he looked terrified—of himself. Then there was very welcome flash, taking them away from the chilling scene.

The giant-sized gods sitting in their thrones on Mount Olympus, all glaring at each other with random sparks of power, were actually a relief after Tartarus… and Percy. However, Pride grimaced.

"Percy Jackson!" a bearded god in a Hawaiian shirt called out, his voice echoing throughout the throne room. Poseidon—Percy's dad. _This must be after the second Titan War…_

"Perseus Jackson—if you wish it—you shall be made a god." Zeus rumbled as thunder punctuated his words. Past Percy blinked, and chaos broke out (with Duty doing most of the yelling).

"You got a chance to be a _god_? _You_?"

Piper examined past Percy. He was sixteen and deep in thought, but she noticed he kept looking at one thing—person—in particular. Past Annabeth. She looked nervous, her face pale and drawn. Piper couldn't contain her grin. Percy had turned down immortality and godhood for Annabeth! _That_ was loyalty. And judging by Aphrodite's serene smile, she'd expected him to turn down Zeus too.

Past Percy snuck one more glance at past Annabeth, who didn't meet his eyes. Piper held her breath, and even Duty quieted down to hear the single word come out of Percy's mouth.

"No."

Then there was a flash of light, and all fifteen demigods and flaws were back at Camp Half-Blood, along with Hera herself.

Hera met everyone's eyes. "Demigods, flaws—you shall be taking a short break before the next set of memories. Here is your lunch—" with a snap, a tray of sandwiches appeared on the nearest table—"I believe that's about it. I trust you will not disturb the frozen campers." With a final glare, she vanished with a flash.

Immediately, several demigods grabbed sandwiches and began milling around (the constant memory-travelling did work up an appetite). But Piper didn't take one, despite her growling stomach. Instead, she caught up to Jason, who had started to argue with Duty. She grabbed the son of Zeus' arm. He spun around, disregarding his flaw.

A strange feeling welled up inside Piper as she gazed at Jason. She had been mad at him before, to say the least. But now—bizarrely, that was gone. She just wanted to kiss him. So she did.

 **I think I'll reveal the stuff about why everyone's acting weirdly next chapter. Thanks to everyone who said their theories, though! The next chapter will have a bunch of drama with Jason/Piper, Jason and Piper and some others cornering Leo/Inferiority, reactions to Percy, and a confrantation between Frank/Insecurity and Leo/Inferiority. At the end I'll start off Leo's memories. I'm actually really really excited for that because Leo is my favorite character and he's just so awesome and amazing and gahh...**

 **I'll shut up now :)**

 **Next chapter will be updated sometime between Thursday-Saturday. I'll aim for Friday?**

 **Wish me a happy birthday? Okay, I'm out!**


	10. The Inferiority Complex

**I'm sorry guys, I was going to update this yesterday but... life. I didn't have enough time to type up the chapter. I already had it written, because I'm old-fashioned and write it out by hand, but I just didn't have the time to type it. I'll update earlier for the next chapter though!**

 **And your theories about why the demigods are acting weirdly will have to be confirmed/denied later on... too much in this update...**

 **Dorian Havilliard: Thanks! The cake _was_ actually blue! Sadly, Percy's memories are over... **

**Ruby: Aaargh, I was going to confirm everyone's theories in this chapter, but I have to push it off because way too much stuff happened already in this one. Good guess!**

 **Rosycat, greekgeekgirlbro, MusicalGurl, Catarina Persephone, awesomeninja09, The Awkward Narwhal, 8DemigodRunner8, RoseThornOlympian, Tonsoffandoms, and many Guests: Thanks for the reviews and all those compliments! I'd like to give a personalized reply to every one of you, but I want to post this chapter before Saturday's completely over XD Thanks again!**

 **SuzuBells: Good guess, but I'm not going to confirm/deny this... yet ;)**

 **The Hero named Villan: I'm evil, so... pretty much...**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: Piper's going to be after Leo, but before Nico/Grudge. And it's actually canon that Leo had abusive foster parents, because in the books (forgot which) he mentions "abusive" Teresa. LEO IS VERY BAE!**

 **Luna: Thanks! Nico will be last, but there's only a few more to go before him. And Teresa will definitely be in this!/ Thanks! I love having a December birthday. I'll go check out that story right after I hit "update"./ I explained at the beginning of this.**

 **Scarl3tWitch: That means a lot to me that you noticed all those maybe-kinda-subtle references! I love dropping them in. And fics where there's just a huge exposition dump... those annoy me, so I try not to do that.**

 **TooLazyToLogin/churning-seas: You have no idea how many times I read that. Thank you so much for that review! It made my day. I love character development and personalizing them (you might have noticed), so it's really encouraging for me that you said that. Very good theory. I was going to reveal it in this chapter, but... nah ;)**

 **ThatPerson: A Frank/Leo shipper? They exist?! Haha, yes, I agree. I love Frank/Leo bonding, and I would've liked to see Rick make them interact more in a deeper way on the Argo II. I hope this chapter is up to par with your Valdang standards! (Valdang... I'm laughing so hard it's silent... oh gods what have I done...)**

Leo

Leo didn't know what to do with his hands. Oddly, he'd lost the urge to build random things. Should he stick them in his pockets? Keep them at his sides? Finger his suspenders? He'd never been _not_ building stuff before, so what was wrong with him now? He bet nobody else suddenly stopped their passion. Wait, passion? Since when did Leo use words like that? So many questions… From the corner of his eye, he saw his flaw disappearing into the shadow of one of the cabins. Inferiority was building something else with that handful of pipe cleaners Leo had given him, and his fingers shook with activity and energy. Meanwhile, Leo was still. Something weird was going on.

Rolling his eyes at himself, Leo strolled over to the lunch table and grabbed two sandwiches, one in each hand. Next to him were Percy and Annabeth perched on the side, munching on their lunch and talking seriously. Hazel, Grudge, and Pride appeared to be deep in conversation. As Leo watched, Pride left and joined Duty and Fear in front of the silver Artemis cabin. Loyalty and Guilt were arguing passive-aggressively (that looked interesting…), while the Franks were nowhere in sight. Neither were Jason or Piper. _I should probably check on Pipes..._ he pivoted slowly, searching. He wouldn't say it to her, but he thought Piper was overreacting slightly. After all, it had been _Duty_ who said that Reyna was better, not Jason himself. But then again, Leo wasn't Jason's girlfriend. (He shuddered just thinking about it.) Maybe it was different?

Then he saw her—them. Piper and Jason were pressed up against each other, kissing deeply in the shadows behind Zeus' cabin. Leo's stomach lurched just watching them. He _never_ wanted to see that example of PDA ever again. And how—? Not that he was unhappy his best friends had made up, but… five minutes ago, Piper had been glaring daggers at Jason! He made a loud noise purposefully walking towards them, not wanting to startle the couple.

"Uh, guys?" he coughed, shuffling his feet. "PDA, you know? You're kinda in public… and behind the king of the gods' cabin…"

Piper turned and flushed bright red. Leo forced a smile onto his face—wait. No. It was completely genuine; it wasn't forced at all. Jason nervously patted down his hair, shifting. Next to Leo, Duty (Where did _he_ come from? Man, that guy had a really bad habit of sticking his nose in places he didn't belong…) sniffed and said something about how Jason was making the wrong decision. Leo shoved him, and grinned when he stumbled.

"So I'm assuming this means you've forgiven me?" Jason asked sheepishly, addressing Piper.

"I guess I _was_ over-dramatizing it a bit…"

"A _bit_?" Piper shot Leo a glare, and he backed off a few steps, his hands (still holding the sandwiches) raised up high in surrender. Duty rolled his eyes and walked away, which was perfectly fine with Leo. And judging by the relieved exhales of Jason and Piper, they weren't exactly about to mourn the absence of the annoying flaw, either. Seriously, though—Leo worked hard to be annoying. How come Duty of all people (flaws, whatever) was allowed to just be _naturally_ annoying?

But out of the blue, a figure creeped up to Leo and tugged on his sleeve. Leo yelped and dropped his food. "Bronze bulls!"

"Sorry," Inferiority whispered, eying the dropped food but making no move to pick it up. (If nothing else, at least all the versions of Leo had a food-cleanliness standard.)

"What do you want?" Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say… but it was like Leo didn't have a brain-to-mouth filter in that moment. _Kinda weird, but… meh._ Leo shrugged.

"Uh… just. Thanks. For the, you know, the thing…" Inferiority made a waving motion, shifting and not meeting anyone's gaze. The pipe cleaners glistened in his grip, now made into a fully-functional helicopter, complete with a centimeter-long scrap of bronze as the blade.

Leo nodded dryly. "Yep, I'm awesome and all that, blah blah. No need to thank me for the Super-Sizzling-Hot-Super-Sized Valdez Pipe Cleaners!"

Inferiority looked very confused. But then again, Leo had no idea what had been coming out of his mouth like farts on Thanksgiving. (That simile… metaphor? Whatever. Leo never paid attention in class.) Why did he even respond like that? Not that Leo wasn't hot or whatever, but he was pretty sure that that wasn't how he was supposed to react.

"Uh, okay..." Piper watched Inferiority, who was now looking down at his feet and shuffling.

"Leo— why _is_ your flaw Inferiority?" Jason spoke up, edging around Leo so that he was now trapped between Piper and Jason. Leo didn't fail to notice that. _Oh, shit… quick, think of something!_

There was an awkward silence. Piper narrowed her eyes, and Duty reappeared again, followed by a reluctant Fear. Jason stood with his six-foot frame, towering over Leo, who gulped nervously.

"Leo…" Piper said in a dangerously low tone, repeating the question.

"Just answer it already," Fear licked her lips. She didn't look threatening; she merely seemed concerned and somewhat curious. Duty, however— Leo could see that he wasn't going to leave without an answer. A _good_ answer. One Leo didn't have.

The others stared at Leo with varying expressions, and he ran his fingers through his hair nervously.

"I— um… I— uh…" Leo stammered, then mentally kicked himself. That had probably just roused even _more_ suspicions! What should he do? Laugh it off? Retreat? Ask about _their_ flaws? Speaking of the flaws, Leo was feeling awfully crowded. All five others were gathered around him… oh gods. Leo wasn't claustrophobic, but they were really close. Piper and Jason's steely gazes and stiff postures… he knew they cared about him. But they reminded him of Percy's anger at Leo after he blew up New Rome. Annabeth's distrust of him. Frank's jealousy (not that he had anything to be jealous _of_ ). Hazel's pity, which was almost worse than anger.

Oh gods. _Oh gods they're looking at me and what should I do and oh my gods this is what Inferiority feels like and_ — oh, gods.

Leo snapped out of his trance-like state in time to see Duty waving his hand in front of Leo's face, rolling his eyes and loudly grumbling, "Are you there? Stupid Greek— _ow!_ Wake up!" Leo grinned as he saw Jason kick the flaw.

Fear looked relieved. "Leo, just answer the question!"

"I _can't_!" Leo snapped, in both his tone and in his brain. Years of pent-up stress and frustration and anger and fear and, well, _everything_ exploded out of him. "You never even _suspected_ before now! Why do you get the privilege of asking _why_ — or even just _knowing_ — _now_?!" he panted for breath, his foot sliding on one of the dropped sandwiches. "Why do you _think_? I can give you a _long_ list of reasons _why_!" Smoke curled up towards the heavens, and Leo felt his hair catching on fire. He patted it out roughly, not noticing that there was a small ring of fire around his feet now. Belatedly, he realized that the last part had been in Spanish. _Oh, well. They don't deserve to figure it out!_ Inferiority subtly moved his feet to absorb and extinguish the flickering flames, and mouthed the translation to the others.

Leo tried not to take in Fear's shuddering breaths, Duty's shock, Piper's eyes welling up, Jason's mouth hanging open, or even the agreement on Inferiority's expression. But he still saw it, and though he tried to hold on to the anger, it was already beginning to evaporate. Anger was safe. Anger was a shield. A fallout shelter. (Yes, Leo _did_ actually know what that meant.) And the shelter was crumbling- not slowly, but burning down in flames.

What had even come across Leo? Ever since he'd lost control during Percy's memories… he'd felt different. Maybe even before that. Maybe it was just because he knew his memories would be watched? He didn't sound convincing, even to himself.

It left Leo then. All the anger. All he felt was tiredness and exhaustion beyond belief. Apparently it took a lot of energy out of people when they had mini-tantrums/hissy fits.

"Sorry," Fear whispered, and held her arms out. Not at Leo, but Inferiority. Because it had been Inferiority who spoke. Not really Leo. Part of him. Inferiority melted into her embrace as the others watched on.

Jason cleared his throat, but didn't speak. There was silence. Sometimes, silence was stifling. But this time, the silence was… just that. Silence. Just a word to describe the quiet. It was comforting to Leo that it was just a word. People and life were complicated. Machines were simple. Words were tools. That was Leo's outlook on life. _A bit of advice from a flame-boy…_ The silence meant that they'd _listened_ to him. Maybe that was more than a word. Maybe. (It was still a word, though.)

Piper, Jason, their flaws, and Inferiority stayed silent. (Surprisingly, even Duty kept his mouth shut.) However, the somberness was seriously getting to Leo, so he stretched, grinned, and swept his arms out at his fallen lunch. This was his chance to escape without awkward questions. Maybe his mood swing would seem really sudden, but… oh, well. He was Leo Valdez— they would deal with it. And he'd be away from the questions.

"Your clumsy admiral has done it again! Encore later, folks— and that's the show!" he jogged away, dodging his way past the other demigods before they could react. He crashed into Duty, but ran off immediately, tossing an insincere "Sorry!" over his shoulder. Once they were out of sight, he broke into a dead sprint. He didn't know to where ( _not_ to the sandwich table)— he just needed to get away before they broke out of their stupor and began asking the questions he would prefer to not answer. He would go to the woods— yes, the woods. Any monsters would be frozen, so it was safe. And he didn't think anyone was there.

He had just passed a satyr and a naiad frozen in a _very_ compromising position when Leo ran straight into a huge panda. And just when he'd found his stride, too!

Well, not really. It was Frank— Insecurity? Yeah, him. Frank's flaw was shorter and… (How to put it?) … Not as muscular as Frank.

"Oh! Sorry!" Insecurity steadied the Latino before getting a glimpse at who he was, but his face immediately turned into a frown. "You—"

"Yeah, me! I know I'm amazing and all, but I gotta go like right _now_!" Leo sprinted away— dealing with chubby praetors wasn't on his to-do list. Not that he had one… for that matter, dealing with _any_ praetor, chubby or not, didn't make the nonexistent list.

Just his luck— Leo ran straight into another person. This one wasn't as chubby. He was the real Frank, who scowled at Leo before softening slightly. What was with him running into grumpy Romans lately? First Duty… Leo lost his train of thought as he glanced around at his surroundings more closely. There was no one else around. Frank's memories had already shown he wasn't on great terms with Leo. In fact, he was jealous.

The trees looked menacing, despite the morning sunlight. The frozen blades of grass were long rows of chainsaws held at the ready. The blue skies were simply waiting for a storm.

If Frank wanted to do something to Leo, now was the time.

"Leo! I wanted to talk to you!" Leo gulped. That didn't sound good. Sure, there was a prank set up for the Romans' upcoming visit for the camps' get-together, but Frank couldn't possibly have known about it. So maybe Frank didn't want to murder Leo. Severely injure? _Wow, thanks! Severe injury! Yippee!_ And there were two Franks now.

"No— nothing bad!" Insecurity reassured him. Leo wasn't really reassured. The woods… why had he come here?

"What, then?" a small pause.

"Well, I wanted to… uh, apologize. You know, for, um… Hazel and… stuff."

Now, Leo had a choice here. He could make a remark about Frank's _wonderful_ linguistic skills. He could nod and run away. He could shrug, or he could have a long, heart-felt conversation with this not-very-cuddly panda who had looked like he was constipated when forcing out an apology.

Yeah, no.

"Man, it's okay," Leo flicked his hand like it didn't matter to him and shrugged. _Did_ it matter to him? That was a good question.

"I don't think you get it, Leo! I apologized!"

"I'm sorry I made fun of you and all that, too! Do I 'get it' now? Dude, I'm trying to say that you don't _need_ to apologize!"

Frank appeared frustrated (again) and shook his head. Just as he opened his mouth once more, Hera's voice boomed out across the frozen camp, startling Leo, Frank, and Insecurity. For once, she had good timing.

"Very nice bonding, Zhang, Leo, but I'll have to cut it short. Jackson, Chase, stop chit-chatting. Grace, McLean, flaws, be quiet! Underworld children, this applies to you as well! _Grudge_! You did not just— what are you doing, Duty? Ugh. Just get yourselves back to the middle of camp!" Leo snickered as he jogged all-too-thankfully away from the Franks. (Grudge had probably given Hera the finger or something, knowing him.) But why had she called him by his first name instead of his last name, like everyone else? He had a bad feeling in his gut. And _bonding_ — had Leo really been bonding with Frank/Insecurity? They'd apologized to each other. Sort of. Back in Rome, they'd shared stories. Thinking back on that, that was somewhat strange. Of all people— why Frank?

Percy and Annabeth were distant (metaphorically and physically). Hazel was awesome, don't get Leo wrong, but… she already knew way too much for Leo's liking. Piper was Leo's best friend. Maybe that was why he didn't tell her. And Jason was also a great friend, but sometimes he just didn't get stuff. That left Frank.

Frank was just Frank. They tormented each other and even had a brief love-triangle thing with Hazel. He was just Frank. That was good enough.

Leo jolted out of his daze when he reached the center of camp, followed closely by the Franks. Everyone else was already gathered around a note. Leo felt the world drop below him as he saw everyone turn towards him. Inferiority was more hunched over that usual. _Oh, no… no… no… not me…_

"Looks like you'll get an answer to your question, Pipes," he smiled wryly.

Inferiority nodded sharply, standing apart from all the others with resignation.

"What?" Frank asked, confused.

"Don't _you_ get it? It's my turn for the memories now."

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one will be on Monday or Tuesday, because I love Leo so much that the ideas just flowed right out of my not-seaweed brain and into my writing. I really enjoyed writing all of these weirdly-acting Leo's thoughts, and I also tried to balance the chapter between seriousness and humor.**

 **(Does this apologizing/you-don't-need-to-apologize scene between Frank and Leo remind you of anything..?)**

 **The chapter after this will have all Leo's memories, and then start on Piper's.**


	11. A Bit of Fear

**Hi guys! As you can see... here's an update... duh... I'm gonna be quiet now.**

 **greekgeekgirlbro, Rosycat, tonsoffandoms: Thanks for the awesome reviews! (::) (::) (::) Imagine that those are blue!**

 **demigodforlife, ThatPerson: I love platonic Valdang! I don't think many people actually ship Freo, though... oh well. Glad you enjoyed!**

 **awesomeninja09: Thanks! Care to elaborate on the "something"? :P They aren't becoming their flaws... in a way, definitely not. I'll just leave that hanging :) Oh, and I'm going to finally reply to your PM! Yay me!**

 **SuzuBells: Haha, thanks! Don't worry, I facepalm quite a bit myself... I laughed while writing that bit, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. Piper! Go Piper!**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: That actually wasn't what I was thinking of, but yes, that is very similar! I can't believe I forgot that... *hiding in shame* There is going to be some more bonding stuff later, because I've just come up with some more things to have after each person's memories have been watched. Thanks for your review!**

 **Dorian Havilliard: Oh gods. Did you just reference the "dam" joke? I'm coughing as I laugh... okay. The order was mainly so that the story-line could make more sense, and there are about seven memories for each demigod. Some have more, I think, but none have less. I need to limit it to a certain number 7-8-9 or some long/some short so that it's about even. The things you mentioned will be addressed when Hera arrives to address the issue of why all the demigods are acting weirdly. Thanks for all those questions, because I actually really like answering questions for some reason.**

 **Luna: Thanks!/ I would if I could figure out a way to include that in this story, but, well, I can't. *sigh* But I will be writing a one-shot in honor of Christmas and the holiday season for this fandom! The fanfic is a bit overdramatic, but the story idea is great. I don't know what I'll be writing next (I honestly don't like working on more than one thing at a time), so we'll see, I suppose. If I do, I'll make sure to write in big bold letters that I am, for you :)**

 **MaxHomlet: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. As for other works, well, I don't know if you mean by me or by other authors, but if you go into my profile, you can find both- mine are under "My Stories", of course, and other amazing works for this fandom are in my Favorite Stories list. Winekita and mewsugarpudd are authors off the top of my head.**

 **Anyone I might have forgotten: Sorry, and thanks for the review! (I check/write reviews/responses before I upload my doc into the Doc Manager.)**

 **On to the actual thing you came to read!**

Frank

Frank remained silent as Leo spoke. The fire-user's tone was sharp, mocking. It would've hurt the old Frank, but now… this new Frank wasn't fazed at all. Frank wasn't sure if that was good or not. Sure, it was good… kind of. He just didn't feel like himself anymore. It was like watching a stranger control him—but there was no stranger. Just him— Frank.

"Does the note really say that?" Insecurity asked, not looking at Leo or Inferiority.

Fear seemed concerned. "Yes, it does—but Leo—"

" _Stop_ it." Frank was shocked at the sudden cold and indifference in Leo's voice. "Just—stop. Just _show them already_ you—" A string of curses, all aimed at Hera, ensued. Frank stood, wide-eyed. He'd never even heard half those curses before… and since when did Leo curse a lot? Usually they were just harmless, like "Holy Hephaestus!" or "Zeus' underpants!" or something of that nature. Things weren't right, and Hera was behind it. Who else could it be?

Wordlessly, Inferiority (Frank still didn't understand how the cheerful, happy-go-lucky Santa's elf could have _that_ as his fatal flaw) held out his arm, and the group touched it, creating a flash of gold light that expanded across Frank's vision, until it faded to a light afterimage.

Frank blinked. This couldn't be right. The demigods were standing in a police station. Frank wasn't sure what American police stations looked like (as opposed to Canadian ones), but it didn't look very nice. It was small, cramped, and dingy, with scuffed floors and a haphazardly placed light fixture that looked like it was going to fall soon. A narrow wooden desk was covered with reports in messy handwriting and several coffee cups with misspelled names ("Gooey" was probably supposed to be "Joey".), while a comfortable-looking swiveling chair rested against an empty bookcase. The whole space was dirty and cramped, in short. It kind of looked like Bunker Nine… It appeared to be some sort of office. Along with a greasy-haired officer in blue pacing around, there was a scrawny boy that looked to be around eight sitting in a wooden chair with his head bowed down.

When he raised his head up, everyone besides the Leos gasped in shock. It was Leo—but not the Leo they knew. His hair was untidy, his eyes bloodshot, and already-dried tear tracks ran down his dirt-smudged face. Soot had settled on his no-longer-bouncy black curls, and his feet swung idly, but his dirty fingers were still, surprisingly.

"The fire started in the break room, where you were. You survived by some _miracle_ —" the greasy-haired policeman obviously didn't think it was a miracle. "What kind of child _locks his mother inside_ her workplace and _starts a fire_?!"

Past Leo began to blink furiously, but kept his mouth shut. Half the demigods/flaws (Insecurity, Leo, Duty, Grudge, Loyalty, Fear, Percy, and Pride) looked murderous, while the other half (Inferiority, Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Guilt, and Hazel) just seemed like they wanted to give past Leo a hug. Of course, they were furious too. Frank was beyond all that. He and Leo weren't exactly friends. But still—Leo had _watched his mother die_ , believing that it was _his fault_. And then this stupid mortal had—Frank wanted to tear him to pieces and watch _him_ die. Luckily for the memory-police, there was a woman who walked in at that moment. She looked like Leo, somewhat. She had a sour mouth, a broad nose, and unkind eyes.

"Are you the aunt?" the policeman asked. Frank stiffened—Leo's aunt had left him to foster care.

"And ashamed of it!" retorted the woman, angrily stooping down to past Leo. " _DIABLO_!" she hissed softly, so that the man couldn't hear her. "I hope you rot in hell along with your mother!" Lightning fast, her arm shot out and she slapped a now-sobbing past Leo. A flash, luckily for her.

Now Leo was older. Thirteen, fourteen? He sat awkwardly at a fancy dinner table, fidgeting in his seat. Next to him was a woman. She had a lighter skin tone than him, and pale blue eyes, along with light brown hair. Leo obviously didn't like her much.

Past Leo wriggled around, but stopped when the woman glared at him with a dangerous glint in her eye. Frank didn't like the slightly insane look in her eyes, or the menacing half-smile the woman wore. Leo (not in the memory) started to take shuddering breaths. Piper, next to him, threw a worried gaze at him.

"Hera… please… please…" Inferiority whispered, his accent-tinged voice barely audible. There was no response from the goddess.

"Teresa—Miss—uh—" past Leo began to stammer in a faint accent, addressing the pale-eyed woman. _Teresa? Leo's never mentioned her before…_

" _Silence!_ " she roared. Several demigods cringed. "I will _not_ have you speaking in that disgusting accent! Filthy lot of illegal immigrants…" Frank's blood boiled. He'd been made fun of and bullied for his Asian heritage before, and it was the worst. At least no one had done that at Camp Jupiter.

Past Leo stayed silent, though his furious glare was enough to melt glaciers. Teresa paid no heed. "Honestly… illegal, illegitimate child, homicidal at the age of _eight_ …" Everyone stiffened.

"Please! Hera, please! You can't show them this!" Inferiority clasped his hands together in a praying gesture. Nothing.

" _How—dare—you—_ " Past Leo stood, knocking over several glass bowls, his eyes fiery.

" _Shut up!_ I'll teach you a lesson…" Teresa stood and yanked something from past Leo, her eyes twinkling with sadistic delight. Loud gasps filled the room.

It was a belt.

Leo began to finger his suspenders, and Inferiority furiously swiped his eyes. Hazel started to hiccup-sob, and Frank felt frozen. _No…_

"Please! _Hera!_ " Inferiority pleaded, his voice rising an octave higher than usual. The amount of heartbreak and pleading in his voice… Hera had to relent, and she did with a flash of gold.

But not before the demigods heard the sound of leather hitting flesh and past Leo's agonizing howl of pain.

Now Leo was even older—the same age he actually was. Everyone was in shock, as Leo glanced nervously at Piper and Jason, silencing everyone else with the hard look in his eyes. Inferiority flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, from the last memory. Frank furrowed his eyebrows. _Are Jason and Piper in this memory? But they're Leo's best friends, right?_ Right? Right..?

Past Leo and past Piper were both sprawled on the floor of what looked like a boarding-school bedroom, lying side-by-side, though not in a romantic way. He looked… happy. Content.

"I can't _believe_ he assigned us an extra packet for homework! We have _lives_!" Past Piper complained, waving around a thick math packet.

"We _are_ 'bad kids', though," past Leo grinned. _Oh! Wilderness School!_ "But this is actually pretty easy." He rifled through the bundle of papers after casually taking it.

"Then _you_ do it!" past Piper threw a pencil at Leo. Past Leo caught it easily, shrugged, and completed the first two pages quickly, like it was no big deal. While that was surprising in itself, so far the memory looked happy. They were just two friends hanging out. That wasn't bad, of course. Leo deserved a break after all the strain he'd gone through in his crappy childhood. Frank sent a pitying glance at him, but then remembered that Leo didn't like pity. He tried to change his expression, but that ended with a confused appearance.

"What?!" Leo snapped. "Hephaestus equals building stuff. Building stuff equals math and science, which is what that was!" That made sense. _How much about Leo do we really know?_

"Okay, so I did your homework. I need help with my English essay," past Leo threw the papers and pencil back at past Piper, who let it fall.

She frowned. "Shoot—I just remembered I have a date with Jason in a minute! Later, okay?" she jumped up and ran out the door, leaving Leo behind. Alone.

"Sure… later…" He got up sadly and left too. A flash.

They were in Bunker Nine. Past Leo was working on a half-completed mast, wiping sweat off his brow at ten feet up. He was all alone, and the echoes of his hammer was the only sound. Sitting back against the tall mast and panting, past Leo checked a dirty (once) white watch. "Two in the morning… I have to get this done before they wake up. Damn, it took me nineteen hours? I gotta work faster."

He continued working, only pausing to switch tools every few minutes. His hair was matted down with sweat, and his clothes looked like he'd slept in a vat of grease for a week. Frank gaped. Nineteen hours… he'd been working that long? By himself? That meant he'd started at seven the day before. That meant _he'd skipped an entire day of meals._ Sure, the Argo II was big to have been completed in half a year. But Frank had never really thought about what it had meant for Leo before… What about Jason and Piper? Annabeth? His cabin-mates? Surely he hadn't done everything himself. And what about going to the bathroom? ( _Seriously? That's what I think of? Needing to pee?_ )

Past Leo resumed working. He was thin, and had heavy bags under his eyes. He held his hammer like it was a battering ram, using both hands. And did Frank mention that it was _ten feet up_? That was _three meters_! And that was… really high up! If he fell and got knocked out… well, he was alone.

"Stupid Hephaestus side of the family," past Leo grumbled suddenly. Frank wasn't sure if he'd heard him correctly. Was Leo referring to his fire powers? Apparently not.

"Stupid vertigo. It's incredibly useless." _Hephaestus… Hera (or Zeus) threw him off Mount Olympus… vertigo is a fear of heights. So it's inherited? But Leo had to climb a lot to build the ship…_ "At least it's very minor. But still. They never noticed?" At that, Jason flinched and Piper flushed. A bang of the hammer.

"And has anyone checked up on me?" _Bang._ "Nope." _Bang._ "Any greetings?" _Bang._ "No way." _Bang._ "Any reminders for meals?" _Bang._ "Nah." _Bang._ "Anyone telling me to hurry up?" _Bang._ "All the time!" _Bang._ "Anyone telling me to just work?" _Bang._ "Every day!" _Bang. Bang, bang, bang._ The sound resounded loudly. _Bang._ "No one cares. I was stupid to think that maybe, this time would be different."

The next _bang_ felt final. A flash again.

This time, they were on a beach. Not Calypso's island—some other beach. There was a woman next to a black-and-chrome motorcycle, with Pac-man-like wheels. Before her stood past Leo and past… Hazel? _When they went to get supplies…_

Frank stepped forward to get a closer look, and gasped. The woman… well, now she wasn't a woman. She—he—was Frank's father. Mars. The person (god) Frank resented the most. Why, of all the gods did it have to be _him_ , the bloodthirsty god of war? When war killed Frank's mom?

"Nemesis. Goddess of revenge," Hazel muttered. Frank inhaled—that made total sense. But then… who did Leo see? Who did Hazel see?

Inferiority's face was drawn taut. "Aunt Rosa," he spat out. Frank had no idea who that was… wait. Wasn't that Leo's aunt who disowned him? The one in the memory who'd called Leo a diablo? A devil. His so-called aunt. Frank surged forward suddenly, taking two large steps before remembering two things: a, "Aunt Rosa" was really the goddess Nemesis, and b, it was a memory. No one had noticed—they were too busy glaring at Nemesis, or rather, who she looked like for each of them. Guilt, especially, looked resentful.

"Mrs. Leer," she growled. The demigods sent her a questioning look. "She was my teacher… I hated her and she hated me and judged me…" Frank took her hand.

"Child of fire." Nemesis'/Mars'/Mrs. Leer's/Aunt Rosa's voice startled everyone. Inferiority closed his eyes, like he couldn't bear what would come next. "You will always be the seventh wheel." The words struck like a bullet. Actually, even more deadly, because everyone there, including Grudge, had felt that way before. Frank wasn't entirely sure about the others, but he'd definitely felt like the weak link among the Seven, though not now. But Leo had been explicitly told that by a _goddess_. He was bound to take that seriously.

Cries of protest began among those who weren't that affected. "Leo, you can't actually believe that—"

"She's _Nemesis_ , for gods' sake!"

"You can't take that to heart, Leo…"

"Shut _up_!" Leo burst out, his eyes glinting in an unreadable way. "Shut _up_ , _all of you_! Just _listen_ to the freaking memory!"

They shut up. Leo could be scary when he wanted.

"You will not find a place among your brethren," Nemesis continued, shrugging like it meant nothing. But judging based on all three Leo's faces… he'd truly felt that way. And from the memories, Frank could see why. Frank had no more time to consider that as more flashes lit out in rapid succession.

There was a grimy-haired boy lifting up a heavy manhole cover and ducking inside. His age… Leo looked to be thirteen at most. And he was wearing suspenders… no belt. Frank heard Leo muttering something about "not after Teresa", and Piper saying something about sewers. Then Leo was by himself on the Argo II, watching as the others paired off without him. Then he was being yelled at by Percy and Annabeth for blowing up New Rome. Then he was by himself in the engine room, listening to the others have fun. Then there was one of his half-sister telling him that fire was a curse. And then—a final flash.

As soon as he saw the cheerful, eight-year-old Leo, Frank knew. And he was angry at Hera—what right did she have to make them—Leo—suffer like this?

The memory began as a kind, beautiful woman who looked a lot like Leo patted her pockets, frowning. (His mother, presumably.) "Wait, here, mijo. I'll only be a minute." She smiled warmly at past Leo and headed into the nearby warehouse, searching for her keys.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut. Frank heard an audible _click_. "Mom?" little Leo's eyes were wide. Nothing. "Mom!" he ran to the door, frantically trying to open it. Loyalty ran to help, but of course it didn't open. Past Leo tapped on the wall in a pattern Frank didn't recognize, but Annabeth gasped.

"Morse code for 'you okay?'… oh gods!"

Frank had no time to ponder what that meant, because _Gaea_ appeared, in all of her dirt-encrusted glory. Loyalty sprang forward, grabbing Riptide out of Percy's hands. Duty caught his shoulders, pulling him back, but glared at the memory too. Hazel tensed, leaning into a battle stance. Frank and Fear did the same. The Leos, however, just watched sadly.

Leo sank down to his knees and sat, curled up into a tiny ball. Inferiority covered his face with his hands. Frank sat next to them, surprising even himself. The ones in the memory began to talk, but Gaea's earthen clothes churned hypnotically, so Frank could only see that. Until Gaea shuffled forward.

"Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me." Jason, Fear, Piper, and Hazel sat around the Leos now.

"Leave my mother _alone_!"

"How will you stop me?" whispered Gaea. And all hell broke loose at that point. Three simultaneous blasts of supercharged flames lit up, illuminating Gaea's sleepy smile. The group cried out and scrambled back.

Past Leo, Inferiority, and Leo were flames. Their bodies were wreathed in it. The flames consumed them, turning the air into unbearable heat. The Leos screamed in pain. Horror. _Past Leo's fire can't hurt us… but the others…_ Flames. Fire everywhere. The very ground was set aflame. The warehouse was already gone, or maybe the smoke just hid it. Gaea was choked in fire. Leo was too. His eyes—they were red. Everywhere was fire.

A flame licked Frank's leg, and he yelped, leaping up. The fire… it wasn't just a fire. It was fueled by pain. Loneliness. Anguish. Terror. Inferiority. It was maybe the single most powerful force Frank had ever experienced.

Screams. Cries. Smoke. Nothing. Everything. Fire. Flames. Piper screaming. Leo screaming. Frank screaming. Jason screaming. Annabeth screaming. Hazel screaming. Past Leo screaming. Percy screaming. The flaws screaming. Inferiority screaming. Red. Orange. Red. Smoke. Fire. Nothing. Everything. Then it was gone—they were back at camp.

The fire was out… somewhat. Somewhat was good enough. At least, until a note dropped down from the cloudless sky. " _No!_ " Leo snatched it up, deciphering it before Frank could reach it. " _Are you kidding me, Hera?!_ " Frank couldn't believe it. How… why… still… "Piper, it's your turn."

 **Guys, go check out Gio Navas on YouTube. Right. Now. She writes and sings the most amazing songs about book characters, including a song about Nico, Leo, Piper, and Percy/Annabeth. There are spoilers in the song, but if you're reading fanfic, most likely you've already read all the books. The songs are really good and the lyrics are meaningful. I've been obsessed with the songs, especially Child of Death (Nico's song) and Embers in the Sky (Leo's song). Thanks, and even if you don't listen to it, thanks for reading this entire thing and bothering to click on my story!**

 **I can't believe it's gotten this far. Thanks again! :) Next chapter will be Piper's memories, and it's going to be updated sometime over the weekend (Saturday-Sunday, the 19th-20th). I'm out until next time!**


	12. Godly Explanation Needed

**Happy early holidays :) (Don't worry, I'm not going away or anything. I'm just in the holiday mood right now.)**

 **SuzuBells: Askddfjkfjfj I understand. I nearly cried writing it askdfkdafsk... we speak fangirl.**

 **awesomeninja09: I honestly didn't want to write it... that's why I had Hera skip it. I can't just do it to Leo my poor baby... *sob* Thanks! That means a lot. I actually go over it maybe two times. Once for editing, and once just to reread and fix minor mistakes.**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: Aaaah what's wrong with me? I kept all of you guessing for this long? Well, you'll find out if your theory is correct next chapter... I sound like some salesperson... call 1-800-FAN-FICS for more updates!**

 **Guest: Haha thanks!**

 **RoseBadwolf1000, Rosycat: I know right? I actually reference the Leo song in this chapter... I couldn't resist :P See if you can find it...**

 **The Awkward Narwhal: But, see, I'm pretty much evil, so... I love Piper, she's probably my favorite main female character! I was planning to give her seven memories, but then I couldn't stop myself and ended up with eight XD**

 **Luna: Thanks! Leo is so awesome... (and hot) I don't know about the birthday update. I'd love to, but it's tough for me to whip up a chapter that quickly. A 23rd update is a possibility, since the next chapter won't have memories in it, I won't have to spend time digging up events that happened in the books. I'l make it up to you by making it extra awesome :) You seem to be an avid fanfic reader, so if you don't mind, I was wondering why you don't have an account? It does make it easier to keep track of all the fics you read... you don't have to answer me if you don't want to.**

 **And I think that's it! Enjoy this chapter! I hope I got all the giants'/swords'/goddess' names spelled right...**

Annabeth

If Annabeth had been completely annoyed before, now she was thoroughly fed up with the so-called "queen" of the gods. She had assumed that maybe Hera would stop the memories for, oh, maybe _ten seconds_? Annabeth had quite a few things to say to the meddlesome goddess. Maybe it was a good thing that the goddess herself wasn't present—Annabeth would probably have instantly been disintegrated if she got a chance to speak her mind to Hera.

Leo and Piper seemed to share her mindset. "You've got to be kidding me!" Piper flung her hands in the air, giving off an air of resigned exasperation. But Annabeth also noted her posture—tense shoulders, stiff neck—and her legs pressed together tightly. She was frightened. Of course—it was her turn next!

"Hasn't showing all my secrets satisfied you, lady?" growled Leo. Inferiority looked angry as well, but to a lesser extent. He appeared saddened too, which was to be expected; after all, he'd just watched a boatload of his own bad memories, most of which he'd probably tried to bury deep into the darkest corner of his mind. Annabeth never would have guessed Leo had such a crappy life—suddenly, her own running away at seven seemed like such a small thing.

Grudge joined in with the Hera-bashing. "Save me as the best for last, eh?"

"Look, we get that you're trying to help us—" Pride snorted at Insecurity's words. "But can we _at least_ take a break?"

"Of course not! She enjoys invading our privacy!" Loyalty rolled his eyes and clenched his fists.

Annabeth was about to agree when a note fell down, fluttering gently, though there was no wind. She caught it in midair, trying to make out the letters. Thankfully, she didn't completely embarrass herself while deciphering it. "It says Hera's going to give us a break after these memories." (Annabeth left out the un-godlike cursing.) She couldn't help but gaze expectantly at Fear, since it was her memories next, after all. And though Annabeth didn't want to pry into anyone's personal business, she didn't understand or even know about some of the flaws. Like it or not, this was a really good opportunity to learn more about the people she'd saved the world with.

Sighing, the flaw relented, holding out her arm as the other flaws had done before her. The now-familiar light flashed.

The first thing Annabeth noticed was that the living room looked extremely expensive, but at the same time, open and cozy. (Interesting combination…) A six- or seven-year-old girl with long brown locks, tanned skin, and color-changing eyes sat on a plush mat, besides a couple toys. It looked ridiculously perfect—the cute little girl in the cute, not-so-little home. Of course, Annabeth wasn't jealous.

Definitely not… why would she be jealous? It couldn't _possibly_ be because it looked like Piper had had a pretty good childhood… of course not… it also couldn't be because compared to Annabeth's house, Annabeth lived in a dump (when not at camp)… okay, fine. Annabeth was jealous.

Then she noticed how past Piper wasn't even touching a single one of those toys. Instead, she was just sitting there, head tilted like she was waiting.

Suddenly— "Daddy!" past Piper cried, springing up with incredible exuberance and hugging a tall, muscled man with tousled dark hair. _Piper's dad… the movie star—he looks the part…_ Mentally, Annabeth chided herself. Seriously? Was she really checking out her friend's father? Had she no pride? Actually, now that she thought about it, she felt even more disconnected with her flaw than before.

 _Back to the memory…_ Past Piper's demeanor completely changed when she saw her father. She lighted up joyfully, her enthusiasm contagious. Her smile belonged in a painting.

"Hi, honey!" Mr. McLean grinned boyishly and hugged back, twirling little Piper in the air before letting go and checking his watch, frowning. "Sorry, Pipes—I've gotta go to a meeting. Catch you later?" Briskly, he walked away. Past Piper sighed like she was used to it and sat back down. Waiting… the whole scene reminded Annabeth of Leo's memory with Piper in the Wilderness School—when Piper had left Leo alone to be with Jason. Of course, Annabeth was sure that neither Piper nor her father had intentionally left out Leo or Piper, respectively. But it was an interesting observation…

Piper was about to say something, but the gold flash cut her off, and then the group was standing on the Argo II again. Well—not _standing_. The ship lurched from side to side, causing Annabeth to nearly fall. She steadied herself on Percy, and looked to see what was disturbing the ship. The warship was flying high in the air, and below were things Annabeth recognized as mountain gods, launching trees and rocks like arrows from the tip of the mountains below.

"Bring us higher, Leo!" past Jason yelled, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as he shot lightning at the angry spirits.

Past Leo was hunched over at the helm, cursing at the monsters while nodding to Jason. Meanwhile, a huge crow—Frank?—secured some rigging from falling overboard. Past Hazel made priceless rubies rain down at the spirits, yelling, "I hope you get cursed!" (Annabeth stifled a laugh.) Over to the side, past Nico dodged a boulder nimbly, while blocking another one with some Underworld magic. Overall, the scene seemed chaotic, but the past demigods looked weary, like the attacks had happened dozens of times. Nico, especially, seemed tired, though in the memory, he was as agile as ever.

 _Nico?_ Annabeth didn't recall Nico being on the ship… oh! That was why she and Percy weren't in the memory—this was after they'd fallen into the… pit. But then, where was Piper? This was her memory—she had to be there.

Suddenly, a chocolate-chip cookie flew by, narrowly missing Annabeth's head. She ducked instinctively, and looked to see the source—past Piper, wielding Katoptris and her cornucopia. The various baked goods didn't have much effect on the mountain spirits, and Piper was too far away to do any real damage anyway. Fear laughed mirthlessly. "You guys were protecting the ship, and all I did was shoot out muffins." Sighing, she stated it flatly.

"That's not true! We—you were needed!" Annabeth immediately winced at how Jason sounded. Honestly—did all boys have such thick skulls?

"So, that's it? I was _needed_ for—what? The prophecy? That's it?!" Fear's voice became higher pitched at the end, ending in a strangled squeak. Piper looked bemused.

"No, no! I didn't mean that—" a gold flash cut the son of Jupiter off.

Now, the demigods and their flaws were on the top of a mountain. Past versions of Piper, Leo, Jason, and a man that Annabeth didn't know were fighting against a giant—Encelaclus, the anti-Athena. He was easily thirty feet tall, humanoid from the waist up, but like a dragon below that. He stood beside a huge bonfire, chanting. Annabeth felt sick as she recognized a phrase—he was chanting about killing everyone, especially Athena.

Actually, the man wasn't fighting, as Annabeth first thought. He was slumped over and unconscious, tied to a wooden stake on the opposite side of the bonfire as the past demigods. He was fashionably dressed—emphasis on _was_. His clothes were ragged and torn, and he was barefoot. He was, overall, thin and sickly-looking.

"Dad!" past Piper shouted, running to the man, who was stirring now.

 _Her… her dad?_ Annabeth couldn't process that. Was this prisoner of the giant really the same man who'd twirled little Piper around in the first memory?

"Piper, you have a choice. Save your father, or ah, _try_ to save your friends and face certain death." Annabeth's eyes blazed. This anti-Athena giant was despicable.

"You will not take the people I love. _None of them_." Flash.

This time, the demigods were in… somewhere with fields and a long, empty road. Well, somewhat empty. Annabeth recognized past versions of Piper, Jason and Percy—it must have been when they met Dionysus (Bacchus, whatever—he was the wine dude either way) in Kansas… when the eidolons had possessed the two boys… oh, gods.

Sure enough, their eyes were murderously gold. Annabeth had to glance at the _real_ Percy to make sure his eyes were still green (they were) to reassure herself.

Percy was mounted on Blackjack the pegasus, fighting skillfully with Riptide. Jason rode a storm—literally. Electricity crackled along the horse/ storm spirit and along Jason's sword, Ivilis. Past Piper narrowly avoided being crushed between the steeds by jumping back, her kaleidoscopic eyes wide in fright. (Would this be a bad time to mention that while fighting, Percy looked incredibly hot?)

Blades clashed, bronze against gold, in a whirlwind of strikes and parries. Each exchange was lightning-fast, punctuated only occasionally by Blackjack's wings flapping or Jason's storm spirit, Tempest, neighing.

Past Piper screamed her throat raw, and Annabeth saw the sheer desperation in her expression. Seeing Jason and Percy like that in a memory was scary enough—she couldn't even begin to imagine how it had been for Piper. Her fear was clearly visible, and after watching some of the daughter of Aphrodite's memories, Annabeth thought she understood her flaw. Fear—fear of being unneeded, abandoned. Fear for her family, and friends who were like family. Fear of her emotions. Fear.

Seconds passed in silence, only broken by the past demigods screaming and fighting. Then, past Percy darted forward suddenly and swept past Jason off his feet, the son of Jupiter's head crashing into the ground. _Head, meet asphalt…_ Jason visibly winced. And past Percy held Riptide above past Jason's chest.

Loyalty flinched, while Duty inhaled sharply. But past Piper managed to dissuade him with charmspeak in the nick of time—and got Blackjack to knock Percy out.

"Well, that's one way to do it…" Leo grinned.

Percy grimaced. "Knocked out by my own horse!"

A bright flash prevented more conversation, and Annabeth found herself on the Argo II—again. Quite a lot of _everyone_ 's memories seemed to have taken place here; that made sense, considering that they'd been on a Great Prophecy quest to save the entire _world_.

Past Piper, Jason, and Leo stood on the deck, the cold wind whipping by. (Those three were quite a trio… nearly all the memories involved them.) They appeared to be in serious discussion… about the prophecy. Annabeth moved closer—this conversation looked important, and the chilly wind made it hard to hear clearly.

"In Greek, the word for Earth would be…" _Di Immortales! Piper's right! Fire… Gaea…_ Earth…

"Gaea. You mean, 'to storm or fire _Gaea_ must fall'?" past Jason asked, his eyes gleaming suddenly with interest.

Past Leo grinned widely, and Duty tsk-ed in disapproval. Past Leo and past Jason began to prematurely celebrate vocally, but Annabeth sensed a _but_ coming. Sure enough, it did.

"But, see, it's storm _or_ fire. The prophecy makes it sound like only _one_ of you can succeed. And if 'storm or fire' is connected to 'final breath'…" Silence. Annabeth felt the dread settle in her gut like a stone, even though Leo had already been returned from the dead. Gaea had definitely fallen to fire—Leo. And Leo had make that oath to return to Calypso— _an oath to keep with final breath_. He'd kept the oath, but not before dying first. Essentially, Piper was right. Fire had died after defeating the earth. _Why didn't I think of that?_

Thankfully, the flash lit out just then. The scene seemed to be just a few moments after the one before, except with the added bonus (note the sarcasm…) of no Leo, a frozen Jason, snow everywhere, two Boreads, and a cranky snow goddess. Annabeth recognized Khione from the trio's recounting of their quest to free Hera. (They should've left her there.) Suddenly, the unnaturally chilly wind from the memory before made sense. It had been the middle of summer—why the cold weather? Mortals might blame it on some freak occurrence—Khione was a freak occurrence, all right.

One of the goddess' henchmen began to tell Piper about how well he kissed. (Annabeth gagged, while Duty muttered, "You're just a stupid Greek, but no one steals _my_ stupid Greek!" Fear looked like she didn't know whether to be insulted or not, and Jason just shook his head, resigned to the weirdness of his flaw.)

"You are the daughter of a useless goddess. Alone, you can do nothing. Of all the seven, you have no purpose, no power."

"That's not true!" Annabeth exclaimed indignantly, along with Guilt and Hazel.

"You can pace the deck of this empty ship and watch our victory in the blade of your dagger. What will you do to stop us, Piper? A _hero_? Ha! You are a _joke_." Annabeth hated Khione. She really, truly did. Past Piper looked as if she's just been told… well, that she was a joke. And if her flaw was any indication… one of Piper's fears was that she was useless—not needed, no purpose. Khione's words had really struck home—yet another reason to hate her.

A flash once again. And this memory was the worst of all. Because there was past Leo, riding atop Festus, fire illuminating him, his clothes in tatters. Past Jason and Piper hovered in the air, next to Gaea, a tornado of grass and dirt.

Annabeth yelped as she realized the group of memory-watchers was hovering in the air to watch the terrifying memory. Love, storm, fire—elements needed to defeat the primordial goddess. And a sacrifice.

"You want one thing." Past Piper said calmly, through flames and storms and twisting soil and fiery shrapnel speeding around her. Gaea growled, screaming obscenities. Past Piper wore a determined, serene expression, her voice soothing.

"One word. You want permission to close your eyes and forget your troubles." Annabeth felt tired, suddenly. Her strength departed and her eyelids grew heavy. "You—want— _SLEEP_." And Gaea slept—at least until the explosion happened. With bated breath, the memory watchers looked on as the sky turned gold. The gold flash was almost unnoticeable.

Annabeth blinked away the gold burned onto the inside of her eyelids and saw the shrine. Past Piper and her own past self were wide-eyed, staring at a small (for a giant) giant with broken machinery adorning his armor. Leo began shuddering violently.

"Mimas… t-the giant born to oppose m-my dad…"

Annabeth felt the terror come over her again. It was the temple of fear, literally. Bad enough that she'd had to be there once—and now, again in a memory? Memories of Tartarus and wars and sacrifices and bodies… they all filled her mind. Paralyzed, she watched her past self being led by past Piper, irrationally running around. The onlookers all wore expressions of absolute, complete fear. Waves of their emotions washed over Annabeth, along with her own.

 _Percy and Annabeth falling. Leo dying in a fiery explosion. Piper watching Jason and Percy attempt to kill each other, powerless. Hazel raising Gaea and dying. Percy promising a young Nico to take care of Bianca. Jason fighting for his life against a powerful giant. Nico being confronted by Cupid. Frank's wood burning down to a stub. The Argo II firing on New Rome…_ terror. Chilling fear, irrational horror. Annabeth watched helplessly as the memories danced before her. Fear was terrifying. Luckily, Hera's flash let her escape the fear.

For a brief moment, the only sounds throughout the entire camp were the flaws' and demigods' heavy panting. All that fear… Annabeth crossed over to where Piper stood and tightly encircled her in her arms. Though the memories were over, the fear wasn't.

Another flash—Annabeth had barely covered her eyes before the one responsible for everything appeared. Hera herself.

"Explanation. Why—w-why…" she cursed herself. "Explanation. _Now!_ "

Hera simply smiled serenely. "Where to begin?"

"How about _why the hell you did this_?!" Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, to scream that. Oh well. Annabeth was _done_ with Hera's games.

 **Annabeth is so completely _done_ right now... update on Wednesday :) I have some extra time on that day, so hopefully I'll finish up the chapter, type it up, and get it to you guys then. I also wrote a Christmas/holiday/winter oneshot (if you can believe it, my first oneshot for this fandom _ever_ ), and I plan to post that on Christmas (the 25th). Until then!**


	13. Judged and Grudged

**To be honest, no memories/bonding happen in this chapter. But important stuff is explained, and you get to see Annabeth/Percy's sassiness! Next chapter will have Nico's memories, though. More information at the bottom A/N. Happy belated birthday to Luna!**

 **Willco: Awesome pen name, and I'll try to incorporate some Will, though I doubt it will be fluffy...**

 **awesomeninja09: Thanks! You're a great author as well. And for your information, I'm now the HOTHOTHOTHEAD. ;)**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: Theory confirmed/denied this chapter!**

 **fandomsforever2003: No problem, and thanks for the suggestion! I don't know what I'll do yet, but I'll definetely consider that. Happy holidays!**

 **The Awkward Narwhal, Guest, demigodforlife, Catarina Persephone: You guys are awesome! *insert virtual present here***

 **Rosycat, Rosebadwolf1000: I'm actually memorizing your pen names by now :) This is one of the times I don't mind that you didn't spot the reference. It was "love, storm, fire", but it wasn't really that clear. Thanks so much! *more virtual presents***

 **greekgeekgirlbro: Was I supposed to laugh at that? Because I did, for nearly five minutes...**

 **SuzuBells: Oh gods yes! Yes! Yes! And Percy could be president of the We-Hate-Zeus club. (Hera would join.)**

 **Luna: Oh, that's too bad :( Your sort-of profile does work, because I like to read reviews of every story I read, and see you pretty often, in fact. That's why I asked. And that's such a huge compliment, I can't even... Thank you. And happy belated birthday! (::) Happy holidays to you too!**

 **Anyone else: :)**

Hazel

Either Annabeth was seriously ticked off at Hera, she'd gotten some _really_ bad memories in the last memory of Piper's, or she had a death wish. (Probably at last two of those. Hazel wasn't completely sure about the other.)

"Excuse _you_ , Miss Chase!" snapped Hera, glaring. Hazel thought she saw literal beams of golden, godly light shoot out from her eyes, which meant that vaporizing Annabeth on the spot was a distinct possibility. And while Hazel was many things, she was sure that she wasn't going to let her friend be killed. _Pretty sure, anyway… yeah, no._

Hazel spoke up—she had to. At this rate, Annabeth was going to get herself killed. "Hera, please. She's just under a lot of stress… you know, the fear temple thing and all…" she wasn't lying. _Hazel's_ worst memories were bad enough—she couldn't even imagine going through _Tartarus_ , only to be forced to relive the memories again. But that was the case with both Annabeth and Percy.

"I will ignore your disrespectfulness this one time, daughter of Athena," Hera seemed to soften slightly. "But the next time you speak out of turn, I will _not hesitate_ to vaporize you into dust!" So much for softening… "Now, ask your question in a civilized manner, if you please."

Visibly, Annabeth breathed in and out deeply for a full ten-second count before responding, her voice tight with barely concealed anger and disgust in her tone. "Why did you send our fatal flaws here?" Hera actually looked scared. Hazel thought that Hera had said something about "bonding" at the start of the memories, but whatever. Any questions now would delay Nico's memories, which was good.

Hazel noticed that Annabeth didn't add on _lady_ or _queen_ or even _Hera_ to her question, and she didn't blame her one bit. If she'd had to go through all the terrible things Annabeth had endured, she would be angry at Hera too. As it was, she already disliked the queen of the gods. Like, a _lot._ She nearly smiled as she thought of something—Annabeth was ready to fight Hera nearly all the time, while Percy was ready to fight Zeus nearly all the time. (Was that a sign that they would get married?) Anyway… Hazel clamped her mouth shut; she didn't want Hera to have an excuse to disintegrate her, too. She was already supposed to be dead.

"I believe I've already said this—but it is because I believe you do not know each other well enough, especially for a group that has—in some cases— _repeatedly_ saved the world."

" _You're kidding me_!" Loyalty's eyes blazed, and his green eyes seemed to darken a shade. They were normally cheerful and calming, but now they became dark—almost black, with a slight green tinge—and fierce. Hazel stared at his eyes and saw shipwrecks and churning seas and huge waves and hurricanes and floods and huge gaps in the earth and galloping horses and shaking earthquakes and… all the power of the Earthshaker. "Me and Annabeth—we've gone through _hell_ together. We've faced countless monsters—giants—Titans—gods—a _primordial_!" We fricking carried the _sky_! Not to mention that _little matter_ of you basically kidnapping—" Hazel stopped listening. Percy—Loyalty—was scary. Like the sea, his disposition had changed within moments. And like the sea, he could be a guiding force, or destructive beyond belief.

"I understand," Hera cut in smoothly. "But then… explain what happened in Tartarus."

The words struck the Percys and the Annabeths like a sword run though their hearts. Loyalty stumbled backwards, his eyes (which changed back to his normal sea-green) wide. Pride's mouth dropped open, and she made no attempt to close it. Percy began breathing heavily, and Annabeth simply sat down, shocked. Hazel cautiously placed a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, since she was the closest. Around her, the others reacted in their own ways. Insecurity gently pushed Loyalty back forward, and Piper nudged Pride slightly. Jason shot a concerned glance to Percy, as Frank helped Annabeth up.

"Why me?" someone spoke quietly. Grudge…

Hera regarded him with an expression akin to pity—but that couldn't be right. Yet when Hazel blinked, Hera still wore that strange expression as she gazed at Nico/Grudge. Actually, just Grudge.

Come to think of it, it was strange that Nico himself wasn't there—only his flaw. During the lunch break, Hazel had talked to Grudge briefly. He'd spoken mostly in monosyllabic grunts, except for a bit at the end.

 _"Nico—Grudge—are you okay?" A grunt, and the sound of chewing. Grudge didn't look up from his sandwich. Hazel couldn't see what was so interesting about plain bread, plain cheese, and plain meat. So he was trying to avoid the subject… that, or Grudge had strange eating habits. Nico certainly did—what was up with all the McRobert's? Or was it McDonald's?_

 _"Grud—oh, forget it. I'm just going to call you Nico." A noncommittal nod was all Hazel got from her half-brother. "Nico, really! Please talk to me…" The only sounds were, once again, chewing and (growing fainter in the distance) the others' talking. Hazel wondered if Grudge was trying to hint for her to go away, but dismissed the thought. Nico would have told her if he wanted to be alone. Then again—he wasn't Nico. He was Grudge._

 _She tried a different approach. "Nico, why do you have Grudge as your flaw?" she was genuinely curious. Nico had gone through a lot of stuff in his life, she knew. That would make sense, but she wanted to hear what he had to say. She hoped that_ all _versions of Nico knew that he had a huge group of friends who cared about him._

 _Before he could respond, Pride came up to them, hesitating slightly at Grudge's immediate, murderous glare._

 _"Look, Grudge… I'm not Annabeth, not really." Hazel noted that she swallowed with difficulty—it had to be hard for_ Pride _to admit that. "But what I wanted to say was sorry… oh crap. Holy Athena, I can't do this…" Annabeth's flaw fidgeted nervously under Grudge's blank stare. It was even beginning to unnerve Hazel, to be completely honest. Why was Grudge so silent? Nico himself wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but still._

 _Pride lost her nerve and hurried away, opting to join Duty and Fear, a good distance away. Hazel was beginning to lose hope when—Grudge spoke. His voice was soft, resigned, and held no trace of bitterness—or even if there was, Hazel couldn't hear it. In its own way, that was scary._

 _"Zeus killed my mother." Hazel didn't know how to respond to that, if at all. She shifted slightly._

 _"I_ had _Bianca, at least." Hazel's gut twisted. She remembered Percy's memory—the one of Bianca's death. The glittering, twisted hunk of metal… Hazel might be Nico's sister, but she would never be Bianca. She didn't want to replace her. And the way Grudge had said he'd_ had _Bianca… did he blame Percy? Well, duh… he was_ Grudge _, after all. But that was beside the point. Bianca was his sister, the one he could confide it, and she'd died. That was the point._

 _"Then… Percy." Hazel still wasn't sure about the whole liking-people-of-the-same-gender thing. She was no child of Venus or Aphrodite, but hey—love was love, right? And Nico had liked—loved—Percy. That must've made it doubly hard—he hated Percy, but loved him at the same time._

 _"And, of course—I_ had _to be a son of Hades, the most disliked and feared god. Sure, I was popular for a few days after the second Titan War and the Giant War—save the day and everyone's your friend. But after that, well…" Hazel sympathized with the flaw. She'd had her own troubles at Camp Jupiter, as a daughter of Pluto in the worst cohort. Even when she'd done her so-called "act of valor" to get off probation, people still mistrusted her, though Pluto was a lot more respectable in his Roman than in his Greek form. She might not agree with Grudge's reasoning, but she_ understood _. Heck, if she were Nico, holding grudges would be her fatal flaw too. As it was, it was guilt—practically the opposite. The two siblings sat in compatible silence, listening to the others in the distance until Hera called them back. But not before Hazel decided something._

 _She would always have Nico's back. She would do anything to make sure he had a good life, because gods knew he'd earned the right. Nico wasn't going to be losing her anytime soon._

All that passed through Hazel's mind in just a few moments, and she was jolted back to the present when Pride spoke to Grudge, breaking the quiet.

"What do you mean, 'why me'?" she asked, puzzled.

Hera interjected smoothly. "If this is what you are wondering, Nico himself is not here because I think he deserves a break." Cries of protest (mostly along the lines of "Liar!") began, only to be silenced by a loud snap of Hera's fingers. She glared at everyone, including Hazel, who tried to hide her surprise a Hera's statement. It wasn't the fact that Nico deserved a break—it was that _Hera_ thought so. "Also, Hades blackmailed me." Hazel thought Hera mumbled something like "And Aphrodite wanted this to play out…" too. But that made a _lot_ more sense! While the queen of the gods wasn't evil or the most annoying god (hold on… maybe she was…), she still wasn't exactly going to win any "Most Helpful" or "Least Meddlesome" awards. She would be lucky if she was even nominated for "Not the Worst".

"Why can't _my_ dad blackmail you?" grumbled Percy, crossing his arms. Hazel stifled a grin. Only in the demigod world would that phrase ever be uttered. (And in a whining tone, too…)

"Not to mention that di Angelo would probably… ah, make things _difficult_." Hazel could imagine that. He would either begin to make Hera's life immortally miserable, or silently death-glare at her. "Anyway, a _part_ of him is here. That's good enough. Any other pointless questions?" Hera asked, glaring at a specific daughter of Athena.

"Why all the memories in this specific order?" Annabeth asked quickly, which meant that she'd probably been holding the question in for too long. Hera rolled her eyes at her.

"I figured that there would be around seven memories per person, and the most important memory, in my opinion, at the end. Also, if I was going to have to watch all this, it might as well be in an interesting order. Rather like a good meal, in fact." Hazel would never understand the gods—one moment, threatening to kill you. The next, acting almost compassionate. And after that? Comparing people's traumatizing experiences to a meal. She wondered if the gods had ADHD as well… huh, that was an interesting question. And back to the point… basically, Hera had a lot of mood swings.

"So, like, Jason's memories were the drinks, and Annabeth's was the bread basket, and Hazel's was the appetizer—" _What?!_ "And Frank's was the… hmm. Like, a drink refill?" At this point, nearly everyone was glaring at an oblivious Leo. First off—an _appetizer?!_ That sounded like a monster who was getting ready to have a tasty meal of Fried Demigod. Second—really? Getting a son of Mars angry by calling his memories a _drink refill_ (gods— that sounded weird) wasn't a good idea. Hazel caught the praetor's hand in warning. Third—that was very insensitive and disrespectful. Fourth—not in character. Leo was insensitive at times, but not like _that._ Fifth—Hazel was honestly scared for what he was going to come up with next.

"What comes after an appetize? An entrée? Yeah, that was Percy's. So mine was the main course—awesome! And Piper's was the dessert." Grudge coughed, and Leo paled. "And, um, yours is the… uh, extra dessert?" Silence.

And then everyone began speaking. Hazel was sure Leo was acting weirdly. In fact, now that she thought about it… _everyone_ was. When Leo had lost control of his fire, Percy had done nothing. Frank was acting bolder than usual—it wasn't necessarily bad, just different. Piper was the same, while Annabeth was less confident. Ditto Jason. Even herself… but none of the flaws, not even Grudge. Only the actual demigods…

"A _drink refill_?!" Frank was a mix in between anger and confusion.

"Dude, that wasn't funny…" _An understatement, Percy._

"We're acting different…" _Another understatement…_

"What are you— _oh_ I get it! Wait… _oh!_ " _What?_

Hera clapped her hands together loudly, and the group fell silent, like a class of rowdy grade-schoolers being lectured by their teacher. "I am aware that most of you (technically, less than half of you) have felt… _strange_ recently. This was not intended, but rather, an accidental side effect of personifying your fatal flaws. The ones unaffected are the flaws themselves…" Hazel didn't understand. She got what Hera had said outright, but what she _meant_ … nope. What did the flaws have to do with their behavior?

Pride and Annabeth, however, wore expressions of dawning comprehension. "You mean—"

"That's not good…" _More understatements…_

"Seriously, Hera?!" they spoke as one.

"What?" Hazel asked, frowning. She had no idea what was going on, but the tone of their voices told her it was nothing good.

"Uh…" Annabeth hesitated, then forged on, occasionally glancing at Hera, as if to confirm that she was right. Hera stared back at her. "Since our flaws are separated from their… um… _us_ , there's going to be some things that happen because of that."

Pride took over, not as hesitantly. "Basically, we think the flaws have been separated—not just physically, but completely _separated_ —from their respective counterparts." Hazel took that in. So that meant that whatever the flaw was, the demigods wouldn't have the flaw anymore, because the flaw was separated into another, separate, being?

"But isn't that good? They're _fatal flaws_. Fatal, as in dead. And flaws, as in… not good. Getting rid of them is good, right?" Percy asked, cocking his head to the side. "Uh, no offense."

Hera and the Annabeths shook their heads. "Take you, for example," Hera started. "Your loyalty is waning as we speak. True, it is your flaw, but it is still part of you. Without loyalty, who are you?" Percy looked stricken. "The way to conquer your flaw is not by banishing it, but by _facing_ it and controlling it. You cannot just eliminate a crucial part of you—what makes you, well, _you_." Hazel blinked. That might have been the single most inspirational and most helpful thing Hera had ever said. "With that said, the trait your flaw gives you is now being released from you."

"But how do we get them back? Can't you just _poof_ us back together?"

Hera flushed. "Ah, well, you see—I was only able to do this in the first place because you _didn't_ understand each other, and the only way to get you back together is if you _do_ truly understand each other… which will only happen through bonding. Like watching these memories, and playing bonding games."

"What happens… if we don't understand each other?"

"You lose your flaw. Forever." Hazel muttered a mild Latin curse, though the others were using much more… _colorful_ language. "So, you see, you do need to watch these memories. Nico—or as you see here, Grudge—you're up next!" Grudge scowled, held out his arm, and the group crowded around him, albeit reluctantly. And there was a flash. _You lose your flaw. Forever._

 **I'm really proud of this chapter, because I managed to type it with a solid 50 WPM (words per minute) average. Next update will be Tuesday-Wednesday next week, though I might surprise you a day or so before then... maybe...**

 **I will be posting a Christmas/holiday one-shot on Christmas. Keep an eye out for that!**

 **Do you guys have any ideas for Nico's? I have a couple ideas, but I need more... and I may take your idea and someone else's and mash it up XD**

 **Merry Christmas, happy New Year... happy holidays, basically! Enjoy the not-cold (for me) winter! (I mean, seriously. Today I didn't even need a jacket... a T-shirt was sufficient... _why?)_**


	14. Half Themselves

**This chapter is one of the longest I've ever written. Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions! Warning: You may want to get a tissue box. Also, there were a lot of memories I wanted to fit in, but not all of them had much to do with Nico's flaw, so I had to leave them out, unfortunately (before all you Nico fangirls start screaming at me...).**

 **You guys are AMAZHANG! A bunch of reviews, a ton of follows, nearly as many favorites... WOO!**

 **Catarina Persephone, fandomsforever2003, Minerva Arhedes, demigodforlife: Thanks for reviewing, they really inspire me! For some of you guys: you too!**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: I know, right? Are the gods fighting again or something? And as for Albania... well, you'll see ;)**

 **Rosycat: Haha, thanks! I really wasn't planning for the bit with Hera to be so... I don't know what you would call it. Inspiring, I guess? But it just came out that way and I ended up liking it, so, yeah. And comparing it with Rick's work is like the hugest compliment for a fangirl you can ever give. Thank you. Just. Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go stick my tongue out at his books (in a place of honor on my desk).**

 **awesomeninja09: Thanks! I didn't mean for it to be so deep, but... ah, well. And EXCUSE ME? I'm obviously the HOTHOTHOT times a million HEAD!**

 **Dorian Havilliard: We might need a huge meeting room... I mean, if we're gonna fit in all of Camp Jupiter and CHB in for the club... yum! Blue cookies!**

 **SuzuBells: It's not very high, but at least my speed is pretty consistent! Merry (late) Christmas to you too! And you never know what Hera might do... *wink* You will never know how many times I misspelled Akhlys writing this chapter- was that a spoiler? Oh well...**

 **KiyiyaTheHowlingWolf: Thanks for the suggestion and the compliment. You'll see that I actually used it. I wish that stuff never happens either... I did a bit of research (a bit) on the time period/people's thoughts, and... just... no.**

 **Luna: I almost forgot about Bryce! Thanks for reminding me... I did use some of your suggestions. And I do that too!/ Thanks for the reviews XD**

 **Guest #1: It was pretty extreme, but I just wanted to emphasize how losing his flaw changed how he acts. Thanks! (His brain does work in weird ways, though... XD)**

 **Guest #2: Thanks! You're awesome! I don't live in those areas either... the weather has been so weird lately. Usually it's really cold where I live by now, but nooope...**

 **DrWhy: Keep up the awesome reader-ship-ness (What did I just type...)!**

 **greekgeekgirlbro: We've already got someone to make to pins and blue cookies for the club! (Dorian Havilliard) And thanks!**

 **inblindingdarkness: (I love your username, by the way.) You'll find out ;)**

 **RoseBadwolf1000: I wonder too... (facepalm as I realize I'm the author) Yeah, Nico has quite a lot of stuff... And that reminded me, I barely remember the sword of Hades story at all. Time to go find it online and read it... it's not exactly a 'limit', per say, but just a general... okay, fine. It is basically a limit, but I can make things into a single memory :) Like, sometimes in the books, there are memories they're watching (vague visions or whatever), and I can put that into a memory as the memories are being watched in the books... I'm confusing myself. HAPPY NEW YEAR! (It's horrible. My state usually has decent winters, but now... bleh.)**

 **Anyone else: Thanks for reviewing, and if you had something I should reply to: [insert reply here]**

Percy

After the flash faded, Percy found himself in an unfamiliar setting. It was some sort of street— but not the kind he was used to, being from modern New York. People in old-fashioned clothing bustled back and forth, speaking rapidly in a language Percy vaguely recognized as Italian. _So this is Nico's childhood or something?_ A newspaper fluttered by, and Percy caught sight of the year—1939, or possibly sometime in the early 1940s? Percy had never paid much attention to history, but wasn't that the beginning of World War II?

It also happened to be a couple years before Nico's family traveled to America. Nico must have been… what, six or seven? Eight at most? Somewhere around that range, anyway. But Percy had thought that Nico couldn't remember his childhood in Italy. Glancing around, he saw several other confused demigods/flaws.

Grudge was clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles were white. Beads of perspiration ran down along his hairline. "Damn you, Hera—" he went on to say several unflattering things to the goddess, who had already disappeared (luckily for her). "I thought that this was just a dream or something…"

Piper threw him a puzzled look. "I thought that you couldn't remember most of your life before the Lotus Hotel?" Percy nodded.

"I can't. This must have been in my subconscious… I remember this now… holy shit…" Hazel looked simultaneously concerned for her half-brother and also scandalized at all the colorful language he was using. Percy didn't remember Nico swearing nearly that much; but this wasn't Nico. It was Grudge.

A sudden commotion brought Percy's attention back to the memory. A little boy with chocolate brown eyes and messy, windblown dark hair had cried out, pointing at a trio of men across the street. _Nico..?_ A woman—his mother?—hushed him, her eyes growing wide at the sight. Percy almost didn't turn to see the men better, but he had to. He had a feeling in his gut that this was important. Grudge… grudges… something in the son of Hades' forgotten childhood… why did Hera think this memory was important? Nico didn't even _remember_ it, for Poseidon's sake! But it had to be important enough for the queen of the gods to take notice of it at all.

One tall man was wearing some kind of uniform, and he shouted something at the other two men, who Percy could now see more clearly. Their fingers were intertwined, but as he watched, they stepped away from each other. One of them yelled something that sounded like _Madonna_ (what?), and Grudge winced. The tall, uniformed man shouted back harshly—something about _Pork_ and what sounded like _Test the gazelle!_ Based on Grudge's reaction, though, he guessed that those were quite some colorful swears. The uniformed man pointed at the two men, spitting on their shoes.

"How—those homophobic _bastards_!" Piper exclaimed, sputtering out the words at the tall man. "How _could_ they—"

"Wait… they're… together?" Guilt put together the pieces, realization dawning on her. "And that other man doesn't..?" Call Percy dense, but he still didn't understand what was going on. So, those men were a couple. And the other didn't like that. And… what did that have to do with Nic— _oh!_

Past Nico whimpered, hiding behind his mother. Piper gave an outraged squeak as the tall man forcefully shoved the couple inside a dark building, and the other people on the street went back to what they were doing before, averting their gazes. But Percy's eyes were on past Nico, whose eyes were now haunted. He followed the boy's gaze. There was an open window in the building. He saw fists whirling, and heard muffled cries, along with unsuccessful attempts to fight back. Fear's jaw was set, and she and Piper began to mutter angrily. Funnily enough, Percy didn't feel any anger. It was like everything was happening to a stranger. Well, it was, but still… even _Duty_ was furious, and Nico was Greek!

Flash. Percy's stomach lurched only as he saw himself, and Dr. Thorn, the manticore who'd been at Nico and B-Bianca's school. Past Nico's eyes were wide, muttering something about attack power and hit points. Grudge scowled at his younger self, but softened when he saw Bianca—alive.

Past Percy was agilely dodging rapid volleys of missiles form the monster's tail, and suddenly ducked, pressing a button on his wristwatch while rolling out of the way. At the time, Percy had been occupied by, you know, _trying to stay alive_. But now, watching the memory from Nico's perspective… the huge shield made by Tyson spiraled out, emblazoned with heroic images. Past Nico's jaw hung open, and his head swiveled back and forth from the monster to Percy like he was watching a tennis match or something. Past Percy grimaced, and the wind blew his messy black hair back. Percy couldn't miss seeing past Nico stare—almost excitedly—at his own past self. If he'd been paying more attention… if Nico hadn't been from the 30s… if he wasn't a son of Hades… _if I'd treated him better… no! It wasn't_ my _fault he's the way he is!_ Suddenly, Percy despised himself for even thinking that. But he couldn't find it within himself to care.

Percy felt weird watching himself, especially since he now knew that Nico had had… uh, _feelings_ for him. But that was nothing compared to what Grudge must've been feeling. _Stop it! It's not my fault!_ Actually, it sort of was his fault. _No…_ for once, Hera seemed to be right. His loyalty was leaving him as a completely different person. That wasn't good (or was it?).

"That was when I developed my crush," Grudge said quietly. His expression was unreadable, as he stared at his past self staring at past Percy.

Loyalty trained his eyes on the ground, but Percy didn't. He stared straight at Grudge, and the flaw looked back. The silent standoff was broken only by a golden flash—actually, not exactly a flash. More like a fading-out of the scene.

And then they were in Camp Half-Blood. Nico looked older and less carefree; he was speaking to past Percy… _Holy Hades, no!_

"Bianca…" past Percy swallowed visibly.

The Hazels paled, and the Annabeths' eyes widened in understanding. Jason awkwardly patted Grudge on the shoulder, while the Leos furrowed their brows.

Percy couldn't watch this memory. He _couldn't_. He'd replayed that scene enough times in his own mind—him telling Nico, Nico exploding, Nico running away. Hera… she'd put these two scenes together. Nico's crush on Percy, the "hero"—and his turmoil when the "hero" couldn't protect his sister. Sure enough, as he watched detachedly, past Nico sprinted away.

The flash was welcome, but once again, Percy recognized the place—this scene took place a few moments after the first part of the one before. But this time, past Nico and Bianca were the focus—not Percy, which was a huge relief. Some of the flaws, and even the demigods themselves, were already shooting dirty looks at Percy. It wasn't like he deserved that—did he? Suddenly, he knew how Leo felt when Percy had exploded at him after he'd fired on Camp Jupiter. The different was that it hadn't been Leo's fault. This _was_ Percy's fault. He made a mental note to apologize to Leo. But he promptly forgot.

A faint silver glow surrounded Bianca, and Annabeth frowned. "This is after she joined the Hunters?" Grudge jerkily nodded in assent, focused with laser-like intensity on the unfolding scene.

"—but I don't understand!" past Nico said, a flurry of emotions in those simple words. "We only just found out about all this stuff! You haven't even seen Camp Whatever-it's-called yet!" Percy agreed. Though it had happened years ago, he still remembered Bianca pledging her loyalty to Artemis—essentially abandoning her little brother only a little bit after even finding out about the gods and monsters and everything.

But watching this conversation… Bianca had had her reasons for leaving him. After all, little Nico _had_ been pretty annoying… a pang of conscience stopped this line of thinking. Losing loyalty… it was even causing Percy's entire personality to change! He just had to survive through these memories, and everything would be okay. If he could do it without strangling himself first, that was. The others looked like they had some problems, too. All the flaws looked as they should—Hera had said they wouldn't be affected. The demigods, on the other hand… suffice to say that they didn't appear to feel much better than Percy.

"Nico, I'm not _leaving_ you—"

"Yes you are!"

Bianca looked fed up, and gestured at little Nico's Mythomagic figurines. "Wouldn't _you_ want to be immortal?"

"Not if it meant losing you!"

Complete silence greeted the statement. Grudge's head was ducked, his shaggy hair covering much of his face. Percy got the feeling that that was on purpose. Guilt looked stricken, and Insecurity's breath hitched. In fact, as Percy looked around, most of the others had a strong reaction. _Not if it meant losing you…_ that could apply to pretty much anything. Fear pressed herself against Jason, whose hands were shaking. Inferiority's eyes shone with unshed tears (though he began to fiddle with some bolts), while Annabeth shivered violently. "Not if it meant losing you," past Nico repeated quietly. Percy put his arm around his girlfriend, and found that his arm was trembling. _Not if it meant losing you_.

So many people lost… Bianca, Beckendorf, Silena. Ethan, Luke… the list went on and on. Bianca—Percy should've persuaded her to stay at camp. Beckendorf—Percy should've been the one to take the risk. Silena—he should've noticed what was wrong… Ethan—he should've convinced him to join the gods' side. Luke—if Percy had done things differently… _No. No._ He couldn't think like that.

Bianca was at a loss. "You—you'll have fun at camp, Neeks… we can always—"

"What happened to sticking together?" past Nico interrupted, looking up at his older sister. A flash, and the siblings were gone.

And now Nico was much older. He had paled, and wore all-black clothing. He twisted his skull ring on a finger, his dark hair in his eyes as he walked to his cabin in Camp Half-Blood. Whispers accompanied him on his way.

"Son of Hades… he could, like, kill you if you annoy him!" _True, but not gossip-worthy._

"I heard he once killed someone—a group of mortals!" Uh, no.

" _I_ heard he only saved us in the war because Percy Jackson bribed him!" _First off, not true and not cool—and since when do I bribe people?! Since when is Nico even bribe-able? How the Hades did these rumors even start?_ Past Nico's posture stiffened as they mentioned Percy, which Percy knew he should feel bad about. But he just didn't. And wasn't that just _great_? Note the sarcasm… or maybe he wasn't being sarcastic at all. Percy couldn't even tell anymore, so he gave up trying.

As past Nico neared the Hades cabin, two figures approached in the distance—past Percy and Annabeth. ( _How many of these am I in?_ ) The couple walked hand-in-hand, occasionally laughing or teasing each other with smiles. Past Nico walked by them, scowling as usual. He ignored everyone else and went to his cabin, slamming the heavy door shut. But before it closed fully, Percy saw Nico collapse on the ground, his face buried in his arms, his stoic demeanor all but gone. "I'll never belong."

He lay there, muttering self-deprecating things. But the only one Percy could make out was "I'll never belong." The door swung shut. _I'll never belong…_ that was what Nico thought. And there, in that dark, bleak cabin, there was no one there to tell him otherwise.

The flash distracted Percy from his none-too-cheerful thoughts. Now the memory-watchers were… oh _gods_. It was… Tartarus. But not the Tartarus Percy and Annabeth had seen—it was the true horror of the pit, in all of its terrifying glory. If the watered-down version of it was indescribable, then _this_ was unimaginable. He could see the heartbeat of Tartarus pumping the ground. He could hear the thumps and hisses of the monsters who dwelled in the darkness. He could smell the acidity in the air, and could almost reach out and _touch_ bits of Tartarus. He could even taste the blood and putridness. Sure, none of that made sense.

Tartarus _didn't_ make sense. The pit was just… bad enough the first time, with a dulled version. Worse— _much worse—_ this time, with the full reality of it, even in a memory. Percy couldn't even begin to imagine how Nico had survived it alone. _This is what Nico had to go through…_ Annabeth clutched tightly onto Percy, and him, her. From the corner of his eye, he saw the others (who'd only ever seen the watered-down Tartarus in a _memory_ ) practically fainting from the terrifying sights. And past Nico walked through the desolate wasteland in rags, but very much alive.

"Why the _Hades_ should I help them?" he yelled into the darkness after disintegrating a pair of dimwitted monsters. "Screw them…" Even Leo couldn't make a dumb joke out of that. _Only Tartarus can silence the no-filter-no-Inferiority-Leo…_ "Damn you, Percy." And the son of Hades continued on his journey, until he encountered Akhlys, anyway. Percy shuddered at the sight of the misery goddess.

"Ooh… you. I like you—so much pain and misery in fourteen short years… but then again, that's not even your true age, is it? Pulled out of time… and your sister—the only one who accepted you—dead, to boot."

Past Nico stiffened as the goddess ambled around him, eyeing him hungrily as if he were a piece of tasty meat. "You know nothing about me."

"Oh?" Misery smiled wolfishly, which wasn't a good look. "All that sorry and pain—I know _enough._ There's little more that I can do to you, anyway! Perfect…" Gaea's forces rushed the son of Hades, overpowering him by sheer force of numbers as his expression crumpled. And then the gold flash came.

Percy saw Reyna, Coach Hedge, and another demigod—and unfamiliar, sleazy-looking guy—locked in the middle of a huge mass of skeletal warriors. Past Nico stood behind the barricade, glaring furiously at the demigod. Percy suddenly realized who it was—Bryce Lawrence, the son of Orcus who'd tried to kill Coach Hedge and Nico, and take Reyna captive on their quest to return the Athena Parthenos. And he was threatening the trio.

The air suddenly became freezing— _below_ freezing. Even the Leos shivered. Waves of darkness crashed and broke in midair. Pain… anger… loss… Nico's emotions expelled, and Percy saw more of Nico's life than he'd ever seen before. There was Zeus blasting his mother to bits. There was Percy failing him. There was him being ostracized by practically everyone. There was him fighting against an invisible opponent. There was his journey through Tartarus. His pain was Percy's pain. His anger was Percy's. His loss was Percy's. And standing over Bryce Lawrence, Nico dispelled him into a mere ghost. An emotionless, chattering, mindless spirit—a shell of his former self.

Percy thought he understood why that memory was chosen—Nico's grudges… they could literally ghostify a living being. His emotions could get the better of him. That was what could happen if you got on the wrong side of him.

After that, the new scene was a definite relief. (But of course, thinking that probably jinxed it.) The demigods now stood in the ruins of an ancient Roman town, overgrown with grass. Past Nico and Jason stood by a broken column. No one else was there, but past Nico trembled. After that last memory… what could possibly scare the deadly son of Hades? Jason's and Nico's swords were both drawn, facing in different directions.

Grudge cursed, breaking the silence, and Duty glared at the ruins like they'd personally caused the rise of Gaea. Jason and Loyalty's eyes were wide. All the girls looked worried, and even the Franks and Leos seemed like they were beginning to understand. Percy didn't. Or maybe he was just trying to pretend to himself that he didn't, because he did know what this was.

Cupid.

Cupid's voice boomed out among the ruins, and Grudge cringed. The invisible god taunted past Nico, and past Jason called to Nico, asking what Cupid even wanted from him. Percy knew.

 _Tell him, Nico di Angelo. Tell him you're a coward, afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always alone._ The ground split open, with skeletons pouring out of the earth, seemingly endlessly. Waves of shadow enveloped Percy, even as Cupid taunted Nico again—much as a predator would tease their prey. Fear… hatred… shame… anger… he felt everything in that wave of darkness. _Love_ … resentment… misery… sadness… loneliness… _love._ Love.

Images flickered on the inside of his eyes and Percy saw himself again—fighting for Nico, promising Nico, failing Nico—he couldn't even breathe. All that pain, terror, horror—the inner anguish… dozens of images shimmered in front of the demigods, all from Nico's point of view. The darkness—if even possible— _increased_ , and Percy realized that Grudge was contributing his own not-so-little cloud of gloom.

Past Nico's army struggled with the invisible Cupid, but Cupid kept fighting back. Percy forgot to breathe as Cupid, Jason, and Nico shouted. He couldn't hear them. His friends were speaking, but he ignored them. Cupid… Nico…

The darkness faded slightly. "I—I wasn't in love with Annabeth." It would have been easier if he had.

"You were jealous of her… it makes total sense." Past Jason said quietly.

The darkness retreated completely, along with the dead warriors. Past Nico's voice was like broken glass. "I hated myself—I hated Percy Jackson." As soon as the words left his mouth, Cupid became visible. He wasn't a cute, chubby, diapered baby at all. He was made of lean muscle—handsome, but harsh and angular. The arrows he carried were nothing like the ones on Valentine's Day cards. They were lethal weapons of war. He was a soldier, a warrior. He was love.

Percy wanted to care about all this. He really, truly did.

Hera was right and wrong. He really was losing his flaw. But after watching the memories, his loyalty still wasn't back. Or if it was, it was hidden inside some of the kelp he had for brains. He wanted to yell at it— _Hurry up and get back! I need to care about this stuff!_

But without Loyalty, he just didn't.

 **Muwahahaha! But the story isn't over yet, since obviously the flaws and demigods aren't joined again...**

 **Update will be on... hmm... Sunday-Tuesday next week? Don't expect Sunday...** **HAPPY EARLY NEW YEAR! And if you're reading this on New Year's... then... well, HAPPY LATE READING OF THE UPDATE!**

 **Any guesses as to how they'll get back together again (I sound like a person whose OTP broke up...)? "They", meaning the demigods and their flaws. I have an idea, but I'm curious to what you guys think. (ooh gods 4k words...)**

 **See you next year!**


	15. Rants and Public Secrets

**Happy New Year... I haven't updated in a year!**

 **Guest: My plan is working... muwahaha! And did you see that new year humor I just used up there? Maybe I stole yours...**

 **Ayano's Theory of Relativity: *hands tissues to you* I believe you may need them. And for the record, I liked typing your old penname better. It was shorter -.- Heh, just kidding. It was shorter, though! Nice talking to you, Ayano's Theory of Relativity...**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: Why. Whyyyyyyyyyy. Just. Why? (TOA reference ;))**

 **Lost-in-a-New-World: Thank you! I take a lot of pride in having a unique plot/concept. And I love your user, by the way.**

 **Luna: I do know! It's when you grin so hard your face hurts but you're so happy that you don't care and you grin even more (do I sound like I'm bragging? XD). And THANK YOU!**

 **Minerva Arhedes: Probably not as dramatic as Percy's, because most of us love Percy, and his loyalty's been with us for quite a bit longer than the others. :) Glad you enjoyed.**

 **RoseBadwolf1000: ...Thank you? But seriously, I do take that as a compliment! Loyalless!Percy Dark!Percy AU, anyone? I do take a lot of time deciding the order of the memories, because I want them to have maximum impact, so thanks! I'm not very confident about this chapter (specifically everyone's reactions) because I needed to accomplish a lot of things in here, and the person with the POV is very self-orientated; I don't know if you've noticed that in the books. So I couldn't make him notice _too_ many things about the others' reactions. You can feel free to imagine the looks on their faces... Thank you once again, because three times' the charm!**

 **TheMythicalWanderer: No promises ;) NO! Coooooookies... COOKIES!**

 **Dorian Havilliard: Thank you. I almost cried writing it... Camp We-Hate-Hera? It has a nice ring to it, don't you think? We could model it after one of the camps and New Rome! I'll identify as a child of Hermes :) I know, right? When I first found out there was a real-life Camp Half-Blood in Texas (!) I screamed. We need this. Yesterday.**

 **TheNewModrenDemigods: Woah, thanks!**

 **DrWhy: Shush, why'd you give my plans away?! Uh.. I mean... (but seriously, I'm not gonna make that happen. I'm not as evil as Rick!) As for getting them back together... you'll see :)**

 **greekgeekgirlbro: Because. Why? (Trials of Apollo reference, good job!)**

 **Hey guys, this chapter is one I'm not overly satisfied with. I chose Leo as my narrator, and while he is awesome, he's not a great narrator to see everyone's reactions to Nico's memories. In the books, he is kind of self-centered. Not in a bad way, but he's not exactly that observant, whereas someone like Jason notes what everyone's doing. Also, half the chapter takes place in complete darkness. So feel free to imagine everyone's individual reactions to the memories! I was going to switch narrators, but at that point I was halfway done with writing this. There is lots of Leo-humor in here, so enjoy that. So... here's the product!**

Leo

"Holy crap," someone said as they were transported back to camp with an illuminating flash.

Leo figured that that pretty much summed up what everyone was feeling. Did Nico have _any_ good memories at all? (Even if he did, Hera probably wouldn't have shown them, anyway.) The memories were like: _bam,_ traumatic childhood experience. _Bam,_ crush on not-so-heroic Percy. _Bam_ , angst. _Bam,_ not-chubby Cupid. _Bam,_ more angst—and yay! Dead people! Or maybe not-actually-dead-dude-who-pissed-off-the-Ghost-King-and-got-turned-into-a-ghost-himself was a more accurate description of that particular memory. Hey, Leo would be mad too if some random demigod showed up and was all like, _Hey, you suck, so I'm gonna kidnap you and also kill your friends_!

He shook his head. That had been… depressing, to say the least. And Leo's own reaction was to make jokes about it, which was seriously messed up—Leo was always the class clown, the joker. But not like _that_. _It's because I lost my flaw… Inferiority._ At first, he was glad to get rid of it. Because, honestly? Leo knew that he had an inferiority complex (though he hated the label). And it sucked.

Seriously—even the other demigods' flaws were better than his. Loyalty, Duty, Pride? Those were barely even flaws. Guilt? Well, that was—to an extent— _good_. Fear? Well, duh! Who didn't have fear? Insecurity—still better than its cousin, In _ferior_ ity. And holding grudges—that was another thing everyone did, though maybe not quite as much as Nico did. Yep, Inferiority was definitely the worst.

Maybe losing it wasn't worth it, though… oh, no, he was beginning to get philosophical. Not good. Leo opened his mouth, not sure what was going to come out. That was his first mistake. "Dang, why did you have so many memories about Percy?"

Shit, shit, _shit!_ He'd really screwed up! As if he didn't know that already, Guilt, Insecurity, and Fear widened their eyes (Insecurity even facepalmed). Loyalty practically seethed, while Percy (strangely) only shook his head. Inferiority took a few quick steps behind Frank, who looked back and forth between Leo and Grudge. Pride and Duty appeared to be plotting how best to murder Leo, _which wasn't helping!_ Everyone else just looked sympathetic. They might as well put _Died due to immense stupidity_ on Leo's grave.

Grudge had had his head lowered, but now he raised it slowly—almost mechanically. But there was nothing remotely machine-like about the fury in his dark eyes. Leo only had time to stumble back before he landed flat on his back in the dirt of Camp Half-Blood. His back throbbed painfully, and Leo clutched his stomach; if the punch had been any harder, he was sure he would've had a fist-shaped indentation there permanently. As it was, he was lucky not to have been sent to Hades' realm already.

"You—shut—up," growled Grudge, sunlight hitting the Stygian iron blade strapped to his hip, making it look even more menacing. "You—know—nothing." He stooped over Leo, narrowing his eyes.

Leo felt a cold, ghostly hand on the back of his neck, and he jumped up so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet. But there was no one there. Grudge smirked, still maintaining eye contact with the fire-user. Leo instinctively scrambled a few feet away from the flaw. He had no idea what to expect. Was he going to end up like that Bruce—Bryce—dude? He was too young to die! Although technically, he'd died already… whatever.

"Look, man, I'm sorry, but it's not my fault—our flaws are gone, right? So this isn't me, it's… well, me, but without—" he faltered under the flaw's penetrating stare. But Grudge actually seemed to consider his words, then looked back at Leo. Sort of. He looked at the space _around_ Leo. Weird.

"Did you think I was going to turn you into a ghost?" he asked curiously. _How—can Hades' kids read minds? That's creepy… no, I can't think that! It's… uh, wonderful!_ "Don't worry, I can't read minds," Grudge added. That would've been more reassuring if it didn't add to the impression that he could read minds. "I only read your aura," he shrugged. "First you were terrified, then panicked. So I assumed that that was what you were thinking." Creepy, but useful. Suddenly, after a few beats of silence, someone else spoke.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know how much I affected you, Grudge, but I should've known. I'm sorry, for everything. B-Bianca…" Loyalty's voice broke, and Leo took the chance to edge away from Grudge. Doing so, he saw tears carving paths down Loyalty's face. Leo turned away, thinking that the flaw wouldn't want to be seen crying. But he just stood there, making no move to swipe the tears away.

"I'm sorry about Bianca." His voice was stronger, and he met Grudge's eyes. "I'm sorry about all those idiots in camp. I'm sorry for _being_ an idiot. I'm sorry."

Now, Leo was an accomplished liar. Anyone who was from the Texas foster-care system who _wasn't_ probably didn't belong in the said system. So he could usually tell when people were lying, unless they were equally as talented (ha) as him. Loyalty wasn't talented at lying. He wasn't lying. He was being completely genuine. It probably would've been more genuine if _Percy_ was the one saying sorry, though. After all, Loyalty was _Loyalty_. He pretty much _had_ to apologize.

For a second, Leo thought that might do the trick anyway. Key word: _thought_.

"Are. You. Fricking. Kidding. Me?!" His voice started out low, then ended in a voice crack in a much higher tone. Leo wasn't even tempted to laugh. With every word, Grudge took a step towards Loyalty. "What gives you the right to feel sorry for me? I don't need your pity!" Leo didn't either. He hated the way his friends looked at him after his memories—pitying expressions, sympathetic phrases, false condolences. (Well, maybe not false. But not entirely true, either.) In Leo's opinion, pity was the worst emotion. That, and hunger…

He didn't want to admit it, but he was actually glad that Grudge was getting angry at Percy's flaw instead of Leo. Nico—Grudge, whatever—was _scary_. But then Leo wasn't glad at all, because black steam was emitting from the son of Hades. The air turned cold. _Oh holy shit this is just like the memory, the one when he turned the Roman dude into a ghost when he got mad, what's gonna happen, oh gods WHAT WAS THAT dammit whoever did that OW that hurt; why isn't my fire working? Ugh what the—SHIT WHO WAS THAT STOP IT STOP IT STOP—_

He couldn't see. He couldn't even breathe. It was just like the memory. The black steam was joined by dark smoke, making it impossible to breathe normally. It covered everything and everyone, and Leo kept stumbling and falling—which shouldn't happen, since he was actively trying _not_ to.

"Everything is for your own convenience, isn't it?! Even this so-called apology is at _just_ the perfect time—when we're supposed to 'bond' and 'understand' each other!" The voice of Grudge cut through the darkness like a knife through butter. Leo flinched. The amount of pain and hatred it contained… Suddenly, camp was pitch-black and completely, utterly silent. Leo heard someone on his right shift slightly—probably just from one foot to the other. That was how quiet it was. _Silent as the grave…_ Leo had to cover his mouth to keep from snorting. He got the feeling Nico's flaw wouldn't be amused.

"Nico!" Hazel and Guilt's voices (or was it just a single voice, since they were both part of Hazel?) intermingled together. Leo hoped Grudge would listen to his sister(s), at least.

"Nico, the point of this is so that we can bond with each other." Guilt said in a soft tone, while Hazel said exasperatedly,

"Look, Nico, you have issues with Leo. And Percy. And a lot of people, actually. _You need to control it._ Yes, even Grudge needs to control his grudges! We're _trying to help._ Stop pushing us away!" Hazel's voice broke at the end, and Guilt took over again.

"Loyalty doesn't pity you. He's just apologizing, plain and simple." Grudge was silent—they all were. Leo even held his breath. Just as he seemed about to speak, one person ruined it. _Really?!_

"Nico…" the voice was impossibly soft, but held a certain authority anyway—Jason.

"You be _quiet_!" roared Grudge, somewhere in the darkness. Somehow, when Leo's sense of sight was cut off, he could hear everything like it was amplified. "What do _you_ know?!" Leo wasn't sure if he believed in one supreme God, or just _the_ gods, or what. But right then, he prayed to whatever higher power there was for Jason to shut. Up.

He didn't. "Nico, I don't know—" _SPARKY!_

"Exactly! You _don't_ know. You're the perfect 'Golden Boy'—son of Jupiter, praetor, _hero_. Hell, you've got a perfect _girlfriend_ , too— _daughter_ of Aphrodite and all." Was it just Leo, or did Grudge emphasize _daughter_ and _girlfriend_? Grudge's voice was full of bitterness. Leo couldn't relate. But then he did. Jason really did seem perfect sometimes. But he wasn't. Grudge couldn't see that.

"Stop poking your nose in business that isn't yours, son of _Jupiter!_ " Did he emphasize _Jupiter_ , too? What was that all about? "Now, let me tell you a little story. There once was a family. There was also once a hypocritical, egoistical god named _Zeus_ —or Jupiter." Suddenly, Leo knew what was coming. "Zeus killed the mother. Nice, right? Then, he tried to kill _me and Bianca_!"

"Look, I'm trying to help! But if you don't _want_ my help, then whatever! I don't even care anymore!" Jason snapped, disconcerting Leo, who tried to keep his mind on Grudge's outburst. (It wasn't easy; Frank began to mutter threats against Jason while cracking his knuckles—what, he was _what?!_ )

Leo wasn't one of Athena's kids, but even he noticed how the story had changed from cold third-person to emotional first-person. "Isn't your father _wonderful_ , former praetor Grace? Being a son of his is _oh so wonderful!_ " _Sass much?_ Leo wondered, before mentally kicking himself. Was this what people with no Inferiority whatsoever felt like? Here the flaw was telling about how his mother had been killed by Zeus—Jason's dad. And here was Leo, wondering about his sass levels. Wow.

With a start, the Latino realized how similar he and Nico were. Both their mothers had been killed by a god at a young age. Both were different than the others—more so with Nico. If time ever became unfrozen, Leo was going to have a little chat with the real Nico. He needed to smile more, and that was Leo's specialty.

"Stop it!" Percy finally spoke up instead of his flaw. "Just stop it, Grudge!" His green eyes fastened on the air a few feet in front of him—wait. Leo could see his eyes? Just then, he realized that the darkness was fading slowly. He could see his friends' shapes. Was Grudge relenting?

"Oh, yes. The great hero _Jackson_ wants me to stop!" Grudge sounded demented, and he let out a short, mirthless chuckle. _Never mind about relenting…_ The darkness kept retreating, though, and Leo could see the crazed glint in Grudge's eyes. He wanted to speak up, but he barely knew Nico himself. Grudge, even less. Maybe Hazel or Guilt could… he definitely couldn't. Before this, Nico was just the creepy, antisocial son of Hades. To him, Leo was probably just the scrawny Latino dude who could make good tacos…

Leo shook his head. Nope. He wasn't going to let that stop him from telling Grudge to shut it, because he'd only just remembered something important: Hera had said they could get reunited with their flaws after all of the memories were shown. But that hadn't exactly happened. So, since Leo was a very logical person (totally!), he assumed that the son of Hades' little temper tantrum was getting in the way. He hoped so, anyway. Leo had to get back together with his flaw, as crappy as it was. It was like picking your poison—you could have a painful, slow-acting venom, or a fast, painless, reversible potion.

Okay, maybe that wasn't the best metaphor. Oh well; Leo had more important things to be worried about. While it was nearly impossible to see clearly (vague shapes were the limit), he was sure that the other demigods felt the same way as Leo. And sure, he was sympathetic to Nico. _Nico_ , not Grudge. But the guy needed to take a chill pill.

"Dude, whatever issues you have, get the damn fog out of here so we can get our flaws back and return to our not-normal demigod lives!" the son of Hephaestus yelled, pointing in the vague direction of Grudge. Just as he finished, Piper chime din as well, which was surprising, to say the least.

"I can't _see!_ " she whined.

"Yeah, would you mind—" Leo stopped. Piper had _whined_? What? Was this the same Piper he knew? (No. _But who cares?_ A little voice whispered to Leo.) And Percy… he'd just yelled for Grudge to shut up, basically; very odd behavior. Jason had acted more or less like his usual self, though. Except for the sassy little _Whatever, I don't even care anymore_ bit. Annabeth was quiet—very strange. Not to say that she was a chatterbox or anything, of course (Loyalty—not Percy—would probably beat Leo up if he said that out loud.)… Oh, who was Leo trying to kid? Normally, whatever was going on, the blond architect of Olympus would be in the thick of it.

Frank? Hazel? Frank was a lot less awkward and… well, acting more like his Greek half-siblings than his usual shy self. Meanwhile, Hazel was the same as ever… somewhat. And what about Leo? He didn't really feel _different_ , it was just that now, he felt more confident. He made more jokes (mentally). He felt like his fatal flaw wasn't holding him back anymore. He… okay, fine. Yeah, he did feel different. He was acting differently too.

Suddenly, Leo was aware of three things: a) the cloud of darkness had faded away, which was a relief, b) Grudge and everyone else weren't talking anymore, and c) they were all staring at Leo with expressions like they'd just sniffed crap, eaten it, digested it, and were now constipated. He decided to go with the short version of that.

"You guys look constipated!" Duty looked like he'd just been told he looked constipated (which, to be fair, he _was_ just told), which only served to make him look more constipated. ( _Was_ he, though? Ah, the mysteries of life…) "Hey, _are_ you? You should probably wait until we get back to camp for the bathroom… wait…" Leo badly wanted to invent a time-travelling device. Better yet, a clone of himself who wasn't as stupid, because this was getting embarrassing. Without his flaw, he basically had no filter. Well, he usually didn't anyway, but this was worse. And he hadn't even remembered where they were!

Camp Half-Blood. Leo'd almost forgotten that the group was there in the first place, since Grudge's death-magic-stuff had blocked it from view. He watned to hug Thalia's tree (since he couldn't get to the real thing…)—the memories were over! But…

"Okay, ignoring Leo being an idiot—" He didn't deserve that from Pride! _Maybe… shut up, me!_ "We still have a major problem. The memories are over, and we can see each other." (That was a nice way of saying Grudge's explosion was over.) "So why aren't we flaws and you guys reunited yet?"

Annabeth barely whispered, staring at the ground. Leo noticed she and Percy were standing a good five feet apart. "Well, uh, maybe it's because of what Hera said? We still might not understand each other, even though we watched the memories? It's just a suggestion…" she flushed for no apparent reason.

"Correct!" the goddess of family herself appeared in a golden flash of light, standing in the middle of the circle of demigods. Some began to complain and protest, but Hera shushed them. "You see, the reason I didn't interrupt… uh, Grudge's little rant was because it gave me a splendid idea!" Frank glared at Grudge; Guilt tugged her half-brother away. "You all need to bond—more!" No one looked very excited. _What's Tia Callida got up her sleeve_ this _time?_ "You flaws need to do a similar rant—only personalized for you, of course." _No. Freaking. Way._ "Or…" _This is probably going to be even worse…_ "You can simply share a secret you've never told anyone—or barely anyone—before. It must be something the majority of you do not know. Grudge's turn is over. So I'm being nice, you see. You have _two_ choices! And the secret cannot be something like, 'My favorite color is green' or things like that. It has to be insightful to your personality."

So basically, there were two bad choices—embarrass yourself (or watch your flaw embarrass both of you), or embarrass yourself even more. Yay. "The order will go like this…" Leo tuned out, but then someone called his name.

"Leo! You're next! Talk to Inferiority about which option you want to do!"

 _WHAT?!_

 **I want to know what you want from this story! Do you want _ to tell a secret? Do you want _ to rant about someone/something? Do you want _ to flatly refuse Hera? Tell me in the reviews (or you could PM me too)!**

 **Next update will be sometime over the weekend. And for reference, I'm on US time. Not going to specify the time zone or anything, but that's so you know what days I mean when I say "weekend" or a specific day of the week.**

 **Thank you for... 80 faves, 117 follows, and a whole load of reviews!**


	16. Trust and Truth

**SuzuBells: Good, because that's what I'm going to call you :) And hey- I'm not THAT evil, to make Hera use it on the Olympians! (Or am I..?) Anyway, thanks. I'm going to use your suggestion for Hazel, because that makes a lot of sense. As for Leo's POV... yeah, it was really hard to not put in any of his inferiority or anything besides basic storytelling and weirdly humorous thoughts...**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: You too! Yeah, Leo is kind of tactless even without losing his flaw, so now... gah. The sass level (I'm assuming that's what you meant by 'dads'? Autocorrect sucks.) is real, too!**

 **Micky D: You'll see what happens here! :) And yes, they do have the powers of the flaws. I think I mentioned this in the first or second chapter, and also sometime later on.**

 **The Three Guests: Thank you guys! And thanks for the suggestions, Guest #2. I'm going to use some of those. Each individual POV does have some limitations. And to Guest #3: Thank you SO much. That's the single most complimentary review I've ever received; short and sweet. THANK YOU!**

 **fandomsforever2003, Venice1987, Rosycat, jk just Keegan, LunarFanGoddess, 88wiseowls (a BIT evil? lol), Lord Nitro (Grudge will swear some more, but his accidental rant counts, so he doesn't have to do it again): Thanks for the suggestions and reviews, guys! You're (almost) as awesome as Annabeth!**

 **DaKingX348, Luna: That's what you're going to get!**

 **TheMythicalWanderer: *munches* Thanks!**

 **The Awkward Narwhal: Thanks! I randomly came up with it while I was... I don't even remember... I love Piper too, and I really think her past should be explored more in both the books and fanfiction. I mean, her dad's a famous actor. She's got to be somewhat famous as well. I'll consider that!**

 **Dorian Havilliard: Hmm... there's an idea... and yes! We needed this eons ago!**

 **i'madivergentshadowhunter: Nice penname, first of all :) I loved writing that part and nearly had a fatal fangirl attack... ah... thank you! And yes, he will, towards the end (well, this IS towards the end already, but...)**

 **Skoliver4Ever: Haha, thanks! I already started writing this chapter before I saw your review, but the next chapter WILL be in Annabeth's POV. And as for them being in character... I don't know. I just hate it when they're NOT in character, so I try not to do that. And if I were really Rick... hm... you would never know!**

 **awesomeninja09: Awesome! Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to use a couple of them, probably... and the part where you said Frank and Hazel could just "do whatever" made me laugh so hard for some reason! And yep, I am planning to do a little surprise POV later...**

 **Geek Without Glasses: Thank you so, so much! That means a lot to me; it's such a huge compliment! And yes, a couple of them will be doing secrets. Real Nico WILL be appearing near the end of the story! He won't be a part of the bonding, but he will be at Camp Half-Blood... ;)**

 **To everyone that sent me suggestions, thank you! I considered them all and put together a list of what each demigod will do. There are three in this chapter, and (hopefully) the other four in the next chapter. Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, following, and just reading!**

 **Get some tissues ready.**

Jason

"Leo, it's your turn. You've got to go on some rant or just tell a secret," Pride explained patiently. However, Jason was standing pretty close to her, and he thought he heard her mutter something like "When it's my turn, I'm going to give Hera exactly what she deserves…" That wasn't a direct quote—Jason mentally bleeped out some examples of… uh, more _colorful_ language. Briefly, he mused that the flaw wasn't being very respectful to the queen of the gods. _Well, Hera's lost the right to_ be _respected._ Unlike a lot of his friends (namely, Annabeth), he didn't hate Hera, despite everything she'd done.

He saw the big picture—he understood why Hera had done the things she'd done. He didn't like it, but without switching Percy and Jason… well, the world would probably have ended. That was a pretty good reason, in Jason's opinion. But come on—invading all the demigods' privacy? Making them _bond_? Couldn't she just, like, set up a party for them to socialize or something?

"What? Why?! Can't someone else go?!" Leo said, panicked. "Does anyone want to volunteer as tribute?" No one volunteered as tribute (Whatever _that_ meant… Leo made a lot of references that Jason didn't get.).

"Son of Hephaestus, I suggest you and your flaw discuss which option you'd like to do. _Now_." Hera's tone made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion at all. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Percy and Loyalty whispering furiously to each other, while the Annabeths were having some sort of silent conversation with just hand gestures. It was a good idea to discuss whether to do a rant/tell a secret now, though. Jason glanced around to find Duty, while Leo grumbled and made his way to Inferiority.

Jason's flaw was apparently still miffed about the builder of the Argo II's comment about his constipation, because he kept glaring in Leo's general direction. What _really_ tipped Jason off was him talking about "stupid short Greek fire-users with stupid Greek senses of humor". (That narrowed down the possibilities quite a bit.) Jason dodged the other conferring demigods and Hera, who sat down at a picnic table like it was a throne, and headed for Duty, who raised his eyebrows disinterestedly.

"What do you want?" _Real nice, man, real nice._

Jason ignored the rude greeting and calmly asked, "What should we do? Rant or secret?" For his polite response, Jason got a scowl from Duty. _Wow, what's the use of being nice if there are people—flaws, whatever—like Duty out there?_ Immediately, he banished the thought from his mind. He didn't regret it, though. "Rant or secret?" he repeated.

"Do we even _have_ a secret?" Duty rolled his eyes. While his tone was rude, he did have a good point. Jason really didn't have many secrets, or at least not any that Hera would be interested in. Actually, the secrets he did have were irrelevant, not very secret, and just plain embarrassing, in some cases. On the flip side, he did have a few secrets, but those were… _secret_. Jason considered Duty's words for a moment, but shook his head. "Well, there is eating the —"

" _No_!" Jason yelped. That was embarrassing, and it wasn't a secret anyway. No one needed to be reminded about when Jason tried to eat a stapler—or Percy giving Jason a plate of staplers to eat on the Argo II when Jason had said he was hungry—in order to bond with him. It wasn't even secret! He and his flaw got no more time to discuss, since Leo cleared his throat, ready. That was fast… Jason wished the fire-user had been a little slower in deciding what to do. If Jason didn't have a secret, he needed to rant… about _what_? He could do it about almost anything, true, but he didn't want to end up raging about ice-cream flavors or something like that. Oh, whatever. He'd come up with something. (Hopefully.)

"Have you decided, Valdez?" Hera raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I've decided this is stupid," Leo crossed his arms. (Judging by the look on Inferiority's face, that wasn't exactly what they'd decided.) Jason snickered at his best friend's sass. Whatever he'd been expecting (probably a rant) from the impish demigod, that wasn't it. Loyalty was practically choking on his own laughter, and had to grab his counterpart for balance. Several others began to laugh too—it really was contagious. Honestly, the remark wasn't _that_ funny or particularly witty, but the demigods needed a break from all the serious stuff. Except Duty, it seemed…

"Ha. Of course…" he muttered darkly.

Leo stopped grinning. "And what does _that_ mean?"

Jason felt the tension in the air, and placed a warning hand on Duty's arm. But the taller flaw shook him off. "Of _course_ you would disobey Hera and crack a joke. Of course—that's literally all you do! This is serious! Haven't you even learned what a _fatal_ flaw is yet?!" That wasn't true. Jason hoped Leo knew that—he hoped _Inferiority_ knew that. Sometimes Leo was annoying, but like he'd said at Midas' house, he _tried_ to do that. To lighten the mood. To _help_. Like now—he was giving the group a much-needed opportunity to blow off steam and lighten up after all the depressing memories. And Jason's own flaw was ruining it.

"Not cool!" Loyalty stepped up to Duty, his eyes blazing. "Take that back!" Meanwhile, Jason tried to hold Duty back—it didn't really work because he actually _wanted_ his flaw to get what he deserved. Annabeth and Pride, each grabbing one of Loyalty's arms, were more successful. Both Pipers glared at the Jasons—not good… Dammit _, Duty!_ Frank wasn't on Team Leo, but even he glared at Duty. Grudge appeared almost bored, but Jason caught a glimpse of shock in those dark eyes. Some of the flaws stood next to each other, and Inferiority kept swallowing. And staring at _Jason_ , as if to reassure himself that not all Jasons were Duty. Jason wasn't sure about that. Leo himself just looked really, really pissed off.

"What the hell?!" Inferiority straightened up and watched Leo in shock. "Have you conveniently forgotten my flaw _did_ cause me to die?! To save your sorry butts, no less!" Leo growled. "Have you forgotten that I basically came up with a suicidal plan so _you_ didn't have to be the 'storm' of the Prophecy?!" Jason swallowed. He remembered.

 _He_ hadn't forgotten. But Duty… how could _Duty_ forget? Jason was a horrible person, because Duty _was_ a part of him. Was… _Hera said we're losing our flaws, so does that mean I'm_ not _so terrible after all?_ Jason didn't understand anything anymore. That, in itself, was scarier than anything else. Monsters, he could kill. Enemies, he could defeat. Himself, not so much.

Leo wasn't finished. "Look, _buddy_ —" Jason flinched. That hurt. A lot. "—there's a lot you don't know about me, even after watching my memories. Like the one of me working on the ship—do you think that was the only time I felt alone?! Far from it! You think the one about _being_ on the Argo II was the only time I _was_ alone?! You're wrong! Do you think I rebuilt Festus on the ship because I was bored?!" _No. Because we shut you out._ "Hades no! And all of you know my history of running from foster homes, right?" Jason felt a stone drop in his gut. He couldn't… that wasn't what Leo was going to say… it _couldn't_ … not Leo…

"Do you think I've considered running away from camp—or the ship—before?" _Oh gods, no. Please say no…_ "The answer to that one _is_ yes."

Jason ran forward and hugged the smaller demigod, nearly crushing his panting frame. The Pipers joined in—then Insecurity, Guilt, and Annabeth—and Loyalty—Hazel and Frank—Pride—then Percy—Grudge, too—Inferiority got dragged in by Loyalty. "You didn't do it, though," Jason murmured to Inferiority, who smiled. Only Duty wasn't in the huge hug.

He simply said a single word. "Sorry." Jason held his breath, squished between Inferiority, Piper, and Insecurity, as Leo tilted his head to the side. Then he grinned and nodded. And Jason exhaled as a comfortable silence reigned.

"Are you quite finished?" Hera's voice broke the moment of silence. Leo jumped, his expression morphing into one of surprise as he realized just how many people were squeezing him. The hug dissolved slowly, everyone standing in a semicircle.

"What? Um, yeah… sorry, I guess…" _You've got nothing to be sorry for._ "So, do I have to do the rant-slash-secret thing?" Jason had completely forgotten about that! As Hera said that Leo's explosion counted as a rant (and a secret, because nobody had known the last bit), Jason thought she sounded almost disappointed, for some weird godly reason. Weird.

"Next up will be… how about Hazel?" Jason exhaled sharply, glad it wasn't him or Piper. Not that he didn't care about Hazel, but… well, he was glad it wasn't him. _Making me a bad leader… no it doesn't! Well… no._ Right? Argh, the whole you-are-yourself-but-just-without-your-fatal-flaw-which-by-the-way-you-might-lose-permanently-if-you-don't-bond-enough-with-each-other-and-that's-not-exactly-good thing was confusing.

"Uh, I'm going to do a rant…" Guilt trailed off nervously, not seeming angry at anything at all. It kind of ruined the purpose of a rant if the person (or flaw) doing the ranting wasn't into it. Guilt was demonstrating the most un-ranting-like behavior Jason had ever seen. Granted, he hadn't seen a whole lot of that behavior before that day. (Hey, he was starting to sound like Leo!) Sadly, Hera seemed to agree with Jason, cutting Guilt off and telling Hazel to take over instead. Hazel was no less nervous than Guilt, but she spoke louder and was more confident. Jason couldn't help but compare this Hazel to the quiet, shy daughter of Pluto he'd known briefly (a month?) at Camp Jupiter. She'd seemed like a nice person, but with an aura of—sadness? Melancholy? Secrets?— _something_ around her that had intrigued Jason. Now, Hazel had, for lack of a better word, grown up. She was powerful, but still kind and somewhat innocent. That didn't mean she didn't have anything to rant about, though. Of all people, _Jason_ would know that. His life wasn't nearly as great as some people assumed it was. But compared to some others'… he was practically in paradise. But hey—he could find something to rant about.

"People suck," Hazel began in a quiet tone. Jason raised an eyebrow. _Suck_ wasn't really a cuss word, but for a girl from the 1940s, it might as well be. "If I've learned anything by being brought back to life, it's that." Agreed. "In New Orleans, when I was in third grade, I had a teacher. Mrs. Leer. She was who I saw when I met Nemesis." Jason remembered that memory—it was one of Leo's. Leo had seen his disgusting excuse for an aunt, and Jason had seen Nemesis take on the form of his mother the _mania_. She was the person he most wanted to get even with, to settle the score with.

"Mrs. Leer would spit at me, humiliate me, and tape my hands to my desk… all because she thought my mother was a witch." _Mrs. Leer should be glad she's dead!_ Everyone else's reactions seemed to be like that too—especially Grudge's and Frank's. The son of Mars' expression scared Jason—Frank had changed. (Maybe just because of not having Insecurity, though.) And Grudge was already extra-scary, because without _Nico_ , he was just a walking, talking _Grudge_. "The other kids weren't much better!" Hazel's voice got louder and stronger, and she spoke faster. "You would think that they would understand—being Indian or colored like me or whatever—" Frank, Leo, and Piper winced. Jason glanced worriedly at them. He didn't understand— _oh!_ Jason felt a sudden stab of fury at the bullies who'd been making fun of Piper because of her Native American heritage at the Wilderness School. And Leo… in his memories, his foster parent had called him an "illegal immigrant". Not okay. And Frank… Jason guessed that his Asian background had to do with it.

"—but _no!_ It was like they enjoyed having someone else to pick on, instead of _being_ the ones picked on. But Sammy wasn't like that. He didn't care about the rumors." Leo smiled slightly, and began to play with some wires and a wrench. Frank glared at Leo, but softened when Hazel spoke again. _I thought they sorted out the Sammy/Leo thing… or maybe it's just some lingering paranoia._ "He was the only one, really. My mother was being controlled by Gaea at that point— _EVERYONE I KNEW WAS AGAINST ME!_ Except Sammy… or at least, until I went to Alaska. People suck. Gaea sucks. Camp Jupiter wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either." Jason winced at the description, but he had to admit that it was pretty accurate. With everything said and done, he preferred Camp Half-Blood. It was less stressful, and to put it simply, a lot more fun, even though it was less developed. New Rome was pretty awesome… could there be something like a New Athena? His thoughts were interrupted.

"Of course, I had to be a child of Pluto. _And_ have that curse. And be in the Fifth Cohort, too!" Frank remained stoic, but Jason felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy. Hazel wasn't really mentioning him… of course, since Hazel was listing bad things, in this case it was good Frank wasn't mentioned. But Frank was in the Fifth Cohort, too. Huh, that was strange. Hazel would usually pick up on people's moods, but now she wasn't. Or maybe she was just ignoring them. _Wait… since our flaws are gone, Hazel is quite literally guilt-free. That would affect her rant… that makes more sense. Argh, what was she saying? ADHD is annoying sometimes…_ Insecurity looked like he was just about to turn into a pug and escape everyone's madness. "The curse caused a _ton_ of trouble!"

"So did my fire!" Leo laughed humorlessly, his arms catching fire (ironically) and making his shirt… uh, sleeveless.

"I didn't _want_ to be a daughter of Aphrodite!" the Pipers both said.

"I _totally_ like being a son of Hades…" The amount of sarcasm there, though…

"I don't get _anything_ special!" Ouch.

"Sometimes I scare myself with my own powers…" Percy admitted. Loyalty snorted.

"I wanted to be a son of Apollo," Insecurity confessed shyly.

Jason took a deep breath before speaking. "Having to live up to all the expectations as a son of Jupiter isn't easy either," he said, suddenly realizing the enormity of what was happening—they'd _bonded_. Sure, it was based on complaining to the Fates, but it was still bonding. Maybe Hera wasn't _totally_ insane. The others were quiet too, glancing at each other like they were still taking all the information in. Personally, Annabeth revelation surprised Jason the most. She was so strong and capable even without special powers… it had never occurred to Jason that she would ever feel bitter about it, much less voice it. Hmm…

Once again, Hera interrupted the silence. Jason was beginning to notice a trend… anyway, Hera seemed pleased. "See? You're all bonding! Now, the next person will be Percy. You've already decided what you'll do, correct?" she asked.

Percy rolled his eyes at the sky, like _why me_ before nodding. "I'm going to tell a secret!" he announced. Jason tilted his head to the side. What kind of secret could Percy have? Then again… "My favorite color is blue!" he grinned. Jason facepalmed, and actually heard quite a few other palm-meet-face slaps. And if rolling eyes were audible, that would've been heard too. Hera's disgruntled sigh was the loudest.

"Look, son of Poseidon. A _secret_. That helps you _bond_. If Valdez could rant in a satisfactory manner, then you can tell a simple secret. Miss Levesque did so as well. Now, _do it._ "

"Are you _threatening_ me?" Percy asked incredulously. _Kelp Head._

"Just do it!" Pride yelled. (Nike would've been proud.) Percy glared at his girlfriend's flaw and sighed louder than Hera.

" _Fine!_ Well, when Annabeth and I fell into T-Tartarus, we landed in t-the River of Lamentation… Cocytus." Jason felt for him, but didn't understand what was so secret about that. The River Cocytus… Percy continued. "When I fell… all the souls in the river told me to give up, to just let go and join them. Real cheerful stuff." He tried to joke, but his voice cracked. Even Hera was listening intently. "I-I considered it. I thought about letting go and drowning. I was about to, but Annabeth saved me." _I was about to…_

Jason connected the dots. Percy had had suicidal thoughts.

 **I warned you.**

 **Next chapter will be sometime over the weekend again, and will have the other four, or as many as I can fit, demigods' rants/secrets. You can still give me suggestions, but I'm pretty much just going to stick with the plan I have now unless your idea is really interesting.**

 **Thanks! (::) Oh, and by the way, check out awesomeninja09's stories. They're cool :)**


	17. Death, Decapitation, and Drunks

**Guess who's baaaack? Me! Guess whose stories you (probably) didn't check out last time? awesomeninja09's! Guess whose stories you _should_ read? Same... - Okay, onto replies...**

 **Taylorlee: I have no intention of _not_ continuing :)**

 **awesomeninja09: I just came up with that randomly, because I saw a person walking by with a 'Just Do It' shirt and I just couldn't resist adding that in! Your review made me grin so hard I think my face fell off. Oh well... I hear the best puns are in the Underworld. Everyone's just dying to get in ;)**

 **SuzuBells (yes, that's you): I just had to end it there... Yeah, I didn't want to deviate from canon too much, so that's what I came up with. And hey, Hera's way seems to be working. Kind of. I know, right? I feel like Rick could include way more complications with demigods' lives if it wasn't for *cough* 12-14 year olds or whatever the labeling is now. I mean... he sends two teenagers through literal hell, and they call it children's fiction? Really? Thanks for the review!**

 **Lord Nitro: Oh, wow... I remember that it was Percy and Leo for the Greeks, and Frank and Hazel for the Romans... gah, but I remembered too late. That was a really great suggestion, though! But I came up with something very similar to it :)**

 **Guest: At this point, I'm pretty sure they _all_ agree with Percy.**

 **CrazyBlueOwl, Writer-at-Heart0, TheMythicalWanderer, Rosycat: Yes, indeed... muwahaha.**

 **DestinyWish10: I love Leo too! TEAM LEO FOREVER! *displays large collection of fangirl merchandise* But seriously, Leo is the best.**

 **The Awkward Narwhal: Ah, I'm glad. Ugh, midterms... they're coming up for me...**

 **Alfhn: Thank you! That's one of the best compliments, because I know a lot of people don't write reviews often (I'm not trying to criticize people; that's the way it is.).**

 **Dorian Havilliard: THANK YOUUUU!**

 **Okay, so the title of this chapter is 'Denial, Decapitation, and Drunks'- in that order. I feel like the paragraphs are really long in this chapter...**

Annabeth

No! _No, no, no, no, no,_ no!

No, it couldn't be. Annabeth refused to believe it. Percy couldn't… no. He was joking—kidding—messing with them. It wasn't true! It couldn't be!

"It's true," Loyalty said, his voice barely above a soft, husky whisper. "The souls in the river… it was too much."

 _No!_ It must've been only a second or two before Annabeth spoke, but it seemed like eons. Thoughts were whirling and rushing around Annabeth's brain like a whirlpool, and she tuned out all the others' cries of shock and disbelief. She was a daughter of the freaking _wisdom_ goddess—she should've known! She should've noticed! She should've done something—anything. No. Saying that she should've known… that meant there was something to know _about_. And there was nothing. Yes, there was nothing.

"You're k-kidding!" Even to herself, Annabeth sounded like she was in denial. Hysterical. She sounded exactly like the people who she'd once despised for being weak. She was weak. It was like carrying Atlas' burden all over again; she wouldn't be surprised if her hair suddenly had another grey streak in it after this whole thing was over. "You—you—Hera made you say that! She wants you to say a secret, but you have no secrets, so she made you say that!" She was sobbing. She was crying, because no matter how horrible Hera was, she wouldn't do the things Annabeth was accusing her of. In fact, out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth caught sight of the goddess blinking in disbelief—whether at Percy's secret or Annabeth's reaction, Annabeth couldn't tell. (That probably saved Annabeth from being vaporized on the spot.) Annabeth was not weak, but she cried because she knew what she'd said wasn't true.

"No," someone approached her, his voice soft. _Yes, that's right,_ no. _It—it's not true… no…_ "I'm sorry, Wise Girl. But _we're together now._ " The last part was whispered into her ear quietly so only she could hear it. And Annabeth looked up and saw Percy, with his sea-green eyes shining with unshed tears and messy raven hair he hadn't bothered to comb and his strong shoulders (that had held the weight of the world) shaking as he held her. Annabeth didn't see that he glanced around awkwardly before hugging her close to him. She didn't see that most of the others were wide-eyed, doing nothing but watching as their strongest friend broke down. She didn't see Grudge's envious stare, or how Loyalty was restraining himself from embracing her, too. Or maybe she did see; she just chose to ignore it all.

She cried. She cried, even though the others were all watching, even though her sniffles were the only sound, even though _Hera_ , her most loathed goddess, was right there. She cried for herself. She cried for Percy. She cried for Piper, and Hazel, and Jason, and Leo, and Frank, and Nico. She cried for _Luke_. She cried for Thalia, and Grover; and the gods, even, because their lives sucked too and damn, why? What was the use of having godly powers if you couldn't change a single bit of all the destruction and tragedy in the world? What was the use of being immortal if you couldn't change those things; what was the use if your immortality was riddled with suffering? She cried for her friends and enemies alike, because _dammit,_ they deserved to be cried for, even just one time. But she stopped within moments.

She stopped crying because life _didn't care._ The Fates _didn't care_. Life went on, even among death. She stopped crying because it was only a brief moment of respite, because life never stopped (even if time was frozen), and because—why the hell not? She stopped crying, because what good was it doing? _What use is crying?!_ All Annabeth was doing was letting a warm, salty liquid trickle down form her eyes. What use was that? Maybe it symbolized something important. Maybe it had something to do with not having Pride anymore. Or maybe it was just some liquid. Annabeth was betting on the latter.

She straightened up and set her jaw. She allowed a final tear to trace its path down her cheek (It had made it that far already; why cut its journey short? And yes, Annabeth realized she was overly personifying what was basically a drop of water) before throwing her shoulders back. Her pride may have left, but Annabeth Chase was still a force to be reckoned with. After everything she'd gone through, Annabeth refused to let losing her flaw affect her more than necessary. And that meant that even if she had no idea what to do, she had to pretend she did. She broke the silence.

"Stop staring at me—who's going to go next? And if we're going to be stuck here for four more rants or secrets or whatever, we might as well sit down!" Annabeth stepped away from Percy and sat down at the nearby pavilion table, pulling him next to her, disregarding his surprised expression. The other demigods/flaws slowly sat. Going clockwise, it was Annabeth, a confused Percy, Loyalty, Guilt, Hazel, a raising-eyebrows Pride, an unhappy Jason, Duty, Fear, Piper, Frank, a bored Grudge, Insecurity, Inferiority, and Leo.

She ignored all the confused glances she was getting from all around the table, and stared pointedly at Piper, Jason, and Frank—the demigods who hadn't had their privacy _completely_ invaded yet. Oh wait… she hadn't gone yet, either. But she refused to go next. Well, if they pressured her, maybe… probably… okay, almost certainly. But Annabeth forced herself to stay strong, to keep her arms crossed. _If you aren't confident, fake it. Nobody can tell the difference, anyway._ Or could they? She hoped not, but at the same time, she hoped they did, for some weird reason. It was confusing—oh, whatever. It wasn't like it mattered. The faster they told secrets or whatever, the faster they would get back to normal.

There was an awkward silence as the three/six demigods/flaws who hadn't ranted or told a secret (besides Annabeth) fidgeted and avoided eye contact. Well, Fear and Insecurity fidgeted. Frank and Piper didn't seem to care, while Duty was actually excited. Jason didn't look happy that he was seated between Pride and Duty, who exchanged glares over the top of the son of Jupiter's head. Finally, Hera—Annabeth had almost forgotten she was even there, surprisingly—cleared her throat and stood in front of the seated demigods.

"There are still four of you who haven't gone yet—choose one of you, or I'll choose _for_ you!"

Pride stood at the same time as Duty, just as Hera sat back down. It gave Annabeth an uneasy feeling that it'd been rehearsed, which was stupid. The two flaws glared at each other over Jason's head in a silent standoff. Annabeth slid away slightly—their unfaltering gazes, laced with anger, were disconcerting to see. Just then, Frank coughed loudly, bringing everyone's attention to the son of Mars and successfully diffusing the tension.

"Um, can I tell my secret?" His words sounded timid, but the tone he used was definitely not. He sounded almost… _bored_. Pride and Duty both sat down, and Annabeth sighed in relief. She was glad that Loyalty hadn't decided to join in on the fight. That would've been a mess. Frank drummed his fingers on the table, meeting the others' gazes. Annabeth dropped hers. Wait… she did _what_? She instantly looked back up. This was _Frank._ Why the hell was she scared of him? Was that even the reason why? What in the name of Athena was going on?! But she knew. She was trying to be her old self—with Pride—but it wasn't working. Frank wasn't _trying_ to be… what he was being. However, without _any_ Insecurity at all, he _was_ that way. Confusing.

"Uh, so during the quest…" Insecurity trailed off, but Hera nodded, encouraging him. "Uh, so during the quest, Mars' and Ares' voices were shouting in my head, right? So, um, they kind of wanted me to kill a bunch of you…"

To tell the truth, Annabeth could imagine no-Insecurity Frank actually _doing_ that. But no the relatively chubby, meek Insecurity. Leo seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Annabeth, since he snorted very loudly. All heads turned to the fire-user. "Ha, right. You?!" Annabeth wished he hadn't sounded so incredulous. And then, as if his grave wasn't already deep enough, Leo kept right on digging. "Like, seriously? I would say you're kidding, but you don't do that stuff…" Annabeth elbowed him sharply. Leo with no Inferiority was insanely reckless and annoying—to be honest, he was a jerk. A big one. She tried to remember that this wasn't really _him_ , but that was hard to do when he was sitting right next to her, insulting a guy with no insecurities whatsoever.

"Damn right, I don't! So you'll believe me when I say that I _will_ throttle you!" growled Frank, slamming his fist onto the table, making it vibrate. Inferiority gulped and pulled Leo away from Frank, who continued. Annabeth noticed that the Hazels blushed at the cursing, and that Frank's face was contorted into a grimace, almost like he was trying to take back what he said (but failing). That could be possible… maybe not his _entire_ flaw was gone? Perhaps Frank was trying to restrain himself… _argh, stupid ADHD! Pay attention, Chase!_

"They _both_ agreed to kill annoying little fireproof repair boys—" cue an outraged squeak from said 'annoying little fireproof repair boy'—"and Mars wanted me to cut his head off…" Uh… "—but Ares wanted to me douse him in acid _before_ beheading him." _Holy… how has Frank_ not _killed one of us yet?!_ She remembered Ares' aura—if he walked into a crowded room, _boom_ —several fights would break out, probably ending in a massive brawl and a lot of work for the closest hospital. If _two_ war gods were inside his mind… wow.

She noticed Leo edging away from Frank, and indeed, several others were too. "Mars wanted me to kick the Greeks off the ship or something, while Ares was yelling about how Romans suck and I should ditch and behead _them_ , too." Annabeth quietly got up (along with pretty much everyone besides Grudge—even the Hazels and Loyalty!) and sat at another table.

Hera looked green, and her form flickered to Juno, probably because of all the Greek/Roman and Ares/Mars talk, or because of the graphic descriptions. Finally, she snapped. "Enough talk of decapitation! Next! Someone else _go!_ Now!"

Piper cautiously raised her hand, and Hera nodded queasily at her, still looking vaguely seasick. "I'm going to do a secret, too. This has nothing to do with the quest or anything even remotely demigod-ly, though." Annabeth admired how her voice remained perfectly even and steady… unlike her own… hey, that wasn't right. _She_ was the daughter of Athena! (But she didn't have Pride—that was a major difference. Hubris didn't seem so bad, now. Annabeth wished she had a more negative flaw, though… losing that would've _helped_ her. But then, she glanced to Leo. _Maybe not…_ )

"Hey, are you finally going to tell us about your Beauty Queen days?" Leo grinned, apparently having speedily recovered form Frank's death threat.

"Yeah. Now shut up." Annabeth stifled a laugh, but a glance at Inferiority sobered her. He looked genuinely hurt, while Leo just shrugged and began to tinker with a piece of black electrical tape and some paper clips. "So, like, my dad was really famous by the time I was little. His face was always plastered across the tabloids—and since he had a daughter born _out_ of wedlock, I was in them a lot too."

Suddenly Frank stood and frowned at all the others, seemingly just realizing that he was the only one left at his table. He sat down next to Hazel, and everyone cast him a glance before shifting to allow him space. But meanwhile, Annabeth wondered why she hadn't guessed Piper's situation before. Famous people's families were usually automatically well-known, even if just by association. Anyway, Piper looked like she'd just bitten into a sour lemon, with her face scrunched up as she remembered something decidedly unpleasant. Fear, however, looked scared. _Duh! I mean, she's freaking_ Fear!No, no exactly scared—disgusted? Something else?

"A lot of them were harmless but gross—like 'Sexiest Movie Actor!' or 'Who Is the Mysterious Woman Who Won Tristan's Heart?' or even stuff like 'Does Piper Have a Boyfriend?' when I got older. Let me assure you, I was _not_ on first-name terms with those vultures." Gag. Tabloids… The Jasons looked disgusted, as Leo mimed dry heaving. Pride didn't even look surprised, and Percy snorted.

"But one time, the headlines were more like 'Piper's Dirty Secret'. At some fancy party this guy got really drunk and tried to kiss me. I think I was thirteen, maybe? I—" Duty growled. He literally _growled_. The Leos, Jason, Loyalty, the Hazels, Pride, Frank—okay, _everyone_ looked furious to varying degrees. Piper seemed surprised, but continued, her eyebrows knitted together.

"I pushed him away, but this woman who got rejected by my dad—" For real? Hollywood was seriously messed up. And this was coming from a child of an ancient Greek deity. "…well, she saw, and decided to spin the story to the media as me kissing a random dude who was at least twenty years older. I mean, really?" _Oh my gods. What the—why—oh gods._

"Who was she?! I swear, I'm going to—" Jason began, with Loyalty nodding like a defective bubblehead doll.

"She's dead," Piper said flatly. Annabeth was surprised, to say the least. The woman didn't sound _that_ old… "Drunk driving, about a year ago. Ironic, when you consider that the guy I supposedly kissed was _drunk_ when he tried to do that…" Drunkenness. Alcoholism… Ga—

"Gabe," Percy muttered quietly. Annabeth squeezed his hand tightly.

"My mom died in a drunk driving accident…" Jason swallowed. Fear whispered something to him, and Inferiority suddenly clenched his fists. _The foster mom of his from his memories… was she an alcoholic? Damn… and Jason's and Thalia's mom, too…_

"Anyway, I explained everything. My dad believed me, but then we started to drift apart. The day after that, I 'stole' something for the first time. It was a really ugly handbag," Piper laughed humorlessly, glancing at Hera. "I'm done."

Annabeth felt a sudden tidal wave of anger rising in her chest. This stuff was _personal_. Hera had no right to do this to them! But glancing at the goddess' thin, pinched lips, she felt some of that anger dissolve. Pride had no such issues, though. She stood up, facing Hera. "What the Hades is wrong with you, Hera?! How do you figure that—?"

"Enough!" Hera spoke commandingly, breathing heavily like she'd just ran a marathon. "You've just volunteered yourself to go next! Now, hurry up!" Well, shit.

 **I tried to put in more rants/secrets, but they decided to take a while to write. So they rest will be in the next chapter... which will be posted... uh... sometime over the weekend (next week) again?**

 **In other news, the actor who played Snape died (Harry Potter)... goodbye, Alan Rickman. "Always." I was going to post something else here but I forgot... Calefe out!**


	18. Idiotic Dying Hyenas

**Wow, I didn't procrastinate (too much)! Nice!**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: *math teacher shakes head disapprovingly, until hearing "PERCABETH"* Percabeth! No homework for you, ever! (I wish.)**

 **MusicalGurl: Leo-Inferiority=More of a jerk than he usually is. (I love him, but sometimes he is one...) *dam that sucks Piper ;)**

 **SuzuBells: I had to really stretch my imagination to write Frank like that... and yeah. I really imagine that something like that would've happened to Piper, that just pushed her over the metaphorical edge, and caused her to start "asking" for stuff. But it really sucks. Their lives suck... wow. I'm typing this after writing the chapter. Major deja vu. Yeah... Magnus literally dies. In the first chapter. Of the first book.**

 **Guest: Lol, after Annabeth comes Jason! And then... well... you'll find out ;) Thanks!**

 **The Awkward Narwhal: Alan Rickman... *sniffles* NOOOOOOO! Kudos to you for being an awesome reviewer... (I was going to do... something... more dark than what I did, but then I figured that, well, the people who might be reading this...)**

 **Rosycat: Thank you! I just try to describe what they're feeling as realistically as possible without making them out to be some puddles of mush... I hope you are, because here it is!**

 **awesomeninja09: That's basically what I did o.o Are you a mind reader? A JEDI mind reader? Hmm? What have you got to say for yourself?! (Ikr? I would murder him... but I wouldn't because then we wouldn't get any more books...) And as for being related to him... hahaha no. Absolutely no way, though I'd like to be! And I added in your suggestion, even though Annabeth will be doing something different ;) Thanks for the great review! (Yes. The accent is yes.)**

 **Dorian Havilliard, Piper McLean 13, OwlGirl2000: Yes, yes, yes... muwahaha... thanks!**

 **DrWhy: Thanks! I specialize in awkward, embarrassing, and personal!**

 **riptidedauntlessgryffindor: Thanks! That means a lot. I love your writing too, so coming from you... :)**

 **Luna: I said at least once a week, meaning that it includes once a week. I'd like to update more, but midterms and exams are piling up now. But I'll update earlier for the next chapter. And thanks for your constant support, I love it!**

Hazel

Hazel wasn't sure whose expression was more priceless—Annabeth's, or Pride's. Annabeth's dull (dull?) grey eyes were open wide, and she kept staring from Hera to Pride, as if hoping that one of them would laugh and say that the whole thing was just a joke. Neither did, since Hera was busy glaring at Pride and Pride was busy moving her mouth (no words came out) silently, an affronted expression on her face.

"I—but—you—" Annabeth stammered. Leo snorted, and even though Hazel was seated quite a distance away from him, she heard him clear as day. Her mind suddenly flashed to a different boy's face—Sammy. But immediately, Leo replaced him. Hazel frowned. The images were annoying, especially since her flashbacks were supposed to have ended. Key word: _supposed_. But then again, these weren't flashbacks. More like she was just thinking of Sammy. Hazel felt an unfamiliar twinge in her stomach. _Guilt… no… no Guilt…_ she was pulled from her confusing thoughts by the son of Hephaestus.

"Sorry, princess, but that's what happens when you get a freaking _goddess_ angry!" Hazel rolled her eyes even before she heard the entire sentence. Non-inferior Leo was incredibly dense. If getting a goddess mad was bad ( _hey, that rhymed! Ugh, screw ADHD… wait, why did I say that..?)_ , calling Annabeth "princess" was even worse.

Surprisingly, Annabeth didn't do anything more than glare weakly at him, and her tearstained cheeks didn't exactly add to that whole I'm-going-to-kill-you-later effect. It had been strangely unsettling and disturbing seeing the strong leader break down like that. Sure, it had been only for a minute or so, but still… On the other hand, Pride had no problem with scowling menacingly at the two Leos. Inferiority trembled visibly, and Guilt, who was nearby, did too. _Loser._ Wait. No. Something wasn't right with that, but Hazel couldn't tell what. It felt… familiar. Anyway, she wondered idly if losing Pride had anything to do with the daughter of Athena's sudden personality change—wait, what the _hell_ was Hazel thinking?! Of course losing a major personality trait was going to affect her! That might explain Hazel's sudden vocabulary additions and her weird behavior, too. Hazel was a nice person. She could sympathize with others and was pretty reliable, if she did say so herself.

But that wasn't how she felt just then.

A person without guilt… they would be ruthless, unforgiving— unsympathetic. Cold. Hazel without Guilt… she shuddered, suddenly feeling just that. Cold. But a tiny little voice that sounded suspiciously like herself crept into her mind. _Would it be so bad? Would it be so bad if you never got your flaw back? They_ are _fatal. People wouldn't underestimate you anymore. You hate that. You could be the best and reach your full potential! You wouldn't feel useless ever again._

Hazel shook her head and concentrated on what was happening. The voice could wait. Apparently, Pride had given up on opposing Hera—for the time being, at least. Her chin rested in the palm of her hand, while her expression was one of calculation. Hazel recognized that—it was the one that meant Annabeth (the one _with_ Pride) was beginning to think of a plan, or that she was about to come up with something completely genius. Or idiotic. (Idiotic? Annabeth-with-Pride's ideas weren't idiotic! They were downright brilliant! _But Pride can do better. You can…_ as if. _But maybe…_ ) Or idiotic _and_ genius; Hazel pacified the voice in her head.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Pride announced, beaming. Fear and Grudge (huh, interesting combination) exchanged wary glances. Loyalty grinned like he was in on the plan, while Percy looked confused as always. Wow, for such a powerful and important demigod, he sure was clueless. His powers—wasted.

But that wasn't true. Far from it. Percy was the most powerful demigod Hazel knew, and she knew a _lot_ of really powerful ones. He'd fallen into Tartarus for Annabeth. He'd _survived._ He'd been in two Great Prophecies. His power could even rival some minor gods'! For Pluto's sake, he'd fought the freaking god of war and survived the encounter—when he wasn't even a teenager yet. But that wasn't Percy. That was Percy… with Loyalty. The voice in Hazel's head screamed in frustration. "Wait, you're _what_?!" screeched Annabeth, interrupting Hazel's thoughts and scrambling to Pride's side to whisper, panicked, into the tall flaw's (hey, another rhyme!) ear.

But Pride shook her head and whispered something that Annabeth evidently didn't like. "You're _not_ going to do that! Why can't I just talk about my crush on Luke or something?!" Annabeth yelled, most certainly _not_ whispering.

"You had a _what?!_ " Loyalty yelled, standing up. "He—" Annabeth flushed a deep red and glanced at Percy shyly.

Percy looked almost bored, leaning back and stretching his arms. When he felt Annabeth's eyes on him, he jolted upright and looked around. "Wait, what just happened?"

"Our girlfriend just said she had a crush on Luke!" Loyalty threw his hands in the air. "But apparently you don't care!"

"Oh, right... um... well... she _had_ a crush on Luke... whatever..." Percy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, and Hazel rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I'm going to rant. But first, I want Hera to promise something on the Styx," Pride grinned, her stormy eyes flashing with anticipation and smoothing over the tension. Loyalty sat down reluctantly.

Hera didn't look impressed. "And what is that 'something', daughter of Athena?"

Before Pride could respond, Duty started to whisper—loudly. "Can oaths on the River Styx even _work_ , since time is frozen?" He glanced pointedly at Grudge and the Hazels, not noticing Jason flush in embarrassment, or Leo and Piper snickering softly.

"How the Hades am _I_ supposed to know?!" Hazel hissed sharply and impulsively, surprising even herself with the ferocity in her tone. "And shut up, Superman! I want to hear what the oath _is_!" Honestly! Hazel was fed up with the cluelessness and ignorance of the other children of the Big Three. Even Grudge—what was he doing? Nothing! She ignored his piercing gaze, barely noticing his brooding but thoughtful expression. Anyway, the three boys obviously didn't deserve their power. And Frank—he hadn't even glanced in her direction even once after his secret! Seriously?

Hazel felt lightheaded. What had that been? When she'd opened her mouth, Hazel was pretty sure that that _wasn't_ what she'd intended to say. Maybe _I don't know; can you be quiet so we can hear about the oath?_ Definitely not what she'd just said. But then again… it had worked. Right? Duty glared at her, but shut up. (Grudge gave him a short nod as an answer, but glanced at Hazel with something akin to grudging respect. Not that Hazel needed, or wanted, that, of course. Sure, Nico had taken her out of the Underworld, but that was just because he wanted his real sister. Sad. A… fourteen-year-old? Eighty-year-old? Oh, whatever. Hazel didn't care about her brother's age. A teenager, searching for his dead big sister! Pathetic.)

Suddenly, Hazel felt the silence. Both Pride and Hera had their eyebrows raised, glancing at her and Duty. Duty sheepishly motioned for them to go on, which the flaw and the goddess complied with (but not before Hera sent a probing glance at Hazel that should've made her uncomfortable, but didn't). _Hmm…_ Hazel looked away, trying to distract herself. With her ADHD, that wasn't very hard. Only Jason and Annabeth hadn't ranted/told a secret yet. Pride would most likely rant. As for Jason… he could go either way, while Duty would probably rant, just to one-up Pride.

"I want you to swear that you'll let me finish my rant—or secret—without any interruptions from you. And whatever I say will _have_ to count as a rant or secret or whatever I choose to do," Pride stared unflinchingly at the goddess of marriage. "Or else I won't do it." That was an empty threat, but…

Hazel wondered what Pride was up to. Surely Annabeth couldn't be in on it—the demigod's expression was one of complete bewilderment and apprehension. Nobody else seemed to have an inkling about the flaw's plan, either. But there was no way Hera was going to agree, right? But in the back of her mind, Hazel _hoped_ the goddess wouldn't agree to those terms. Because if she did, that wouldn't be fair, since Pride's terms obviously benefited her in some way. And if _she_ got something out of it, then Hazel wanted whatever it was too. But unfortunately, the daughter of Pluto had already ranted. Whatever.

Hera tapped her chin with a single perfectly-manicured nail, reminding Hazel of Venus. Her brow was furrowed, as she gazed at the cloudless, and (literally) timeless blue sky. "No."

"What?!" Pride burst out, then quickly composed herself. "I mean, uh, why?" Hazel noted that while some demigods looked amused, and some looked disinterested, Annabeth seemed downright relieved. _Scared, huh? Not very daughter-of-the-war-goddess-like of her. Wait, that's Reyna._

"I'll agree to no interruptions, but not to your other term—that your rant or secret will count. For all I know, you could just begin talking about something completely unrelated!"

Pride tilted her head to the side, her golden locks swinging. Then, she nodded curtly, seeming to sense that that was the best deal she was going to get. Hazel was beginning to understand. Most likely, Pride wasn't going to talk about anything personal—she was, well, too prideful to do so. So something about the gods, or demigods' lives, was probably going to be the subject. Obviously, Hera wouldn't like that, hence the no-interruptions-and-make-it-count terms.

A sudden, unpleasant thought struck Hazel. She was looking down on the blond girl in much the same way she hated others to look down on _her._ But she and Pride were quite similar. She'd even ranted about her curse… Hazel didn't fully understand the entire thing yet, but now she knew one thing—or two things. She didn't like who she was without Guilt. She had to get her flaw back.

"I, Hera, swear on the River Styx to the agreed terms between the flaw—Pride—and I," Hera said loudly, and thunder boomed, briefly darkening the clear sky. "Begin!"

"I'm going to do a rant," Pride announced, and Hazel disguised her snort as a cough. _Of course she would. A secret's probably below her._ Annabeth shook her head wildly, her gaze locked upon her counterpart, and her curls swinging. Percy put an arm around her slowly; Hazel glared at Frank, sitting a few seats away. He didn't even seem to notice.

Pride ignored Annabeth, however. Honestly, with the excessive amount of ignoring everyone was doing, Hazel was beginning to think it had been appointed National Ignoring Day or something. (It would make sense that she didn't know, since, well… people would be _ignoring_ each other…) "I'm going to rant about Hera and the freaking _unfairness_ of our lives." _I see now… I was right! So that's why she made Hera take the oath!_ Hazel watched as Hera's face turned interesting shades of colors. Wow—there was a new color! It was a mixture of purplish-reddish-greenish colors and a pale white…

Pride was just getting started. "We're—we're like pawns on a chessboard. The gods, monsters, even among mortals— _we're nothing._ We're nobody."

"I'd like to think I'm some _thing_ , at least," Leo interrupted, grinning widely. Hazel instantly was reminded of Sammy. Same face, same posture, same crazy, goofy (and yes, cute) grin. But this Leo was just annoying. Just. Plain. Annoying. But that annoyingness… Hazel remembered the cheeky fire-user's memories—those moments of depression and loneliness, of self-deprecation and the cruel sound of belt hitting flesh, his mother… the fire. Maybe he had a mask made of humor, but he could be lonely and scared and serious too. Maybe the humor was just a mask.

Maybe everyone had a mask.

Frank's would be one of stability, but he was allowed to be insecure too. Nico's was of cold indifference, but even he had to be held once in a while, and maybe even often. Annabeth's was one of strength, but she didn't always have to be strong. Percy's was of power, but he couldn't help everyone all the time. Piper's was of confidence, but she could be scared and frightened and terrified as well. Jason's was of leadership and honor, but he could relax and let others shoulder burdens too. And Hazel's? She didn't know, but she intended to find out.

"Shut the hell up, Valdez." Frank leaned forward, a look of intense concentration—maybe even revelation—on his face. But his tone wasn't angry or even frustrated.

"Do this, do that! _Fight_ for us! _Die_ for us! Be our kids that we can control! Die young! Have a tough life! Watch your friends die, go to hell, become traitors—spies— _DEATH_ —loneliness— _WHY?!_ " Pride continued like there had been no interruptions, real emotion in her voice. "Even Celestial bronze and Imperial gold weapons—mortals can't be harmed. We're part mortal, but we _can_ be harmed! Gods can't be killed with it—but _we_ can, just because we're part god! _What the hell are we?!_ Why, of all the despicable people on the planet—" Hazel knew who she was thinking of. "—why us?! Mortals can kill us with their mortal weapons. Godly weapons sure as hell can. Of course, so can demigod weapons! We're in both worlds, but we don't belong! We don't belong anywhere!"

Everyone was silent as Pride took a deep breath before starting again. But Hazel didn't hear what she said next. She heard remnants of the past. _We don't belong anywhere._

" _Witch girl!" the kids jeered, cornering Hazel in the schoolyard. "Gimme some cursed diamonds, hey? Where's your daddy at, witch? Your mommy dead yet?" She could only back away, terrified._ She wasn't mortal.

 _Hazel watched, helpless, as the mountain gods laughed mockingly and launched rocks at the Argo II. She tried to dodge, but one nicked her elbow, and a smear of bright red blood leaked out slowly._ She wasn't a god. Far from it.

" _Did you hear… daughter of Pluto? There's something off about her, I tell you." Haze listened silently to the centurions of her cohort discussing her as she hid in the shadow of a temple. She gritted her teeth._

" _Now, be nice, Dakota… although those stones that keep popping up around her_ are _a bit weird…"_ She was a demigod.

"We're freaking demigods who get their entire _lives_ messed up! And _that_ is why I don't exactly appreciate you doing this, Hera! Haven't you meddled enough?!" Pride's voice cut into Hazel's thoughts. "I'm done." She made to cross her arms, and Hera shook her head.

Pride didn't look surprised—she had probably expected that Hera wouldn't accept that as a rant. But Hera just kept shaking her head. "It counts," Hera said, her voice a bit husky. Hazel knitted her eyebrows together, confused. What? Hera said no more, but those two words meant everything.

Because what Pride had said _w_ a _s_ true, much as Hazel didn't like to admit that. And Hera saying it counted meant that she _knew_ , she _knew_ it wasn't fair, and she _knew_ they couldn't really do much about it, but she _knew_ that they probably could, and she _knew_ that she was being unfair _,_ but she _knew_ that it would help, yet she _knew_ the demigods would hate her, but she _knew_ that maybe they would understand, but she _knew_ not to expect it, and Hazel knew that. But not everything Pride had said was true. As Hazel glanced around, she saw a group of others just like her, though they were crazily different. She—they—did belong. They belonged to this crazy world with a mixture of myth and certainty, of fantasy and reality. They belonged in this absurdly dysfunctional family—they _literally_ were a family!

Of course, Duty ruined the moment, because he was an idiot. "It's my turn, and I was going to do a rant—" Past tense? "—but now I'm going to do a secret." Hera nodded.

Jason locked eyes with Duty, and for once, they seemed to be tuned in to the same wavelength. Jason began. "Sometimes I hate my life. Nothing new there. But sometimes I love it. I wish I was never a demigod; that I was never born. But sometimes I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Duty interjected. "Except for a _lot_ of money—"

"Yeah, that… sure… anyway, I wouldn't trade, even if there are annoying goddesses stealing part of me. It's not much of a secret, because that same goddess gave you guys my secrets already. But it's good enough, right?" Hazel felt a slow grin creeping over her face. It was just—it was _satisfying_ to hear these things aloud. And… _it's good enough, right?_ That described her life. Good enough. That was good enough.

And then came the laughter in the midst of the silence. Every single last one of them laughed—besides Hera. She had to be special, so she just smiled. Grudge let out a chuckle, even. Progress. There was nothing to laugh about, but they were all stupid idiots who laughed like dying hyenas.

It was idiotic and inane, but it was pretty damn beautiful.

 **I think that was a bit sappy... and in case you're wondering, Hazel is... uh... mean... because she hasn't got any more guilt, so she can basically say whatever she wants without feeling guilty about it. That's how I imagined guiltless Hazel. And thanks for the Luke suggestion, awesomeninja09!**

 **Anyway... it finally snowed where I live, so hopefully I'll get a snow day on Monday. Which, hopefully, means more time to write! So, hopefully, I can update on Friday next week or a day before then.**

 **My favorite quotes from this: "Duty ruined the moment, because he was an idiot."**

 **"I wouldn't trade it for anything." "Except a _lot_ of money _."_**

 **"There was nothing to laugh about, but they were all stupid idiots who laughed like dying hyenas."**


	19. Flawless

**jk just Keegan, RoseThornOlympia, Guest: Thanks!**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: I know right? I had nearly that much! And that's a really good idea... I'm going to incorporate something like that in later on. You'll see how :) Yeah, I feel like that too... like, at the end of BOO, I was still like "Noooooo... there was no Percy/Piper bonding! Leo/Frank! Nico/everyone! Leo/Percy bonding! No large Frazel moments! No bonding! Argh!" And yeah... you could be the next Confucius or whoever! [insert name of famous philosopher here]**

 **Luna: Yeah... sadly, I do. But my math midterm just finished up today, and I'm freeeeeeee! Thanks! And I do have instagram, but it's my personal, so sorry about that. / I'm excited too XD That sucks. I have a cold... *sniff* Ah, you don't have midterms? Lucky you! I don't have midterms for all my classes though (at least not yet), so that's something. Gah.**

 **awesomeninja09: Was it narcissistic of me to put those, considering I wrote them? Oh well. And... uh... O.O But I'm divergent! And... _protego_! Thanks for the short and less painful death, though. I think. I hereby declare you not-that-bad of an awesome ninja.**

 **OwlGirl2000: Thanks! And I did watch it! The PJO/HOO series really need to be made into an animated series, and that should totally be the intro! *cough* Rick read this *cough***

 **SuzuBells: It was awkward for me to write (at first). I mean, Hazel's so sweet and adorable (even as she kills monsters and defeats giants)! Thanks! And I do love my puns... I was trying not to do weird titles for this story, but then I was just like ah, screw it! Thanks again for your constant support :)**

 **Dorian Havilliard: That's the highest compliment :) P!ATD is awesome. And that song is amazing!**

 **Rosycat: You're speechless! (Type-less, whatever.) Thank you soo much for that review! It made my day!**

 **This chapter is sort of filler-y but it's needed for the plot, so whatever. And I was listening to Fall Out Boy while writing this... they are amazing. Oh, a warning: There is a lot of cursing (no f-bombs, though) in the later parts of the chapter, mainly by Grudge.**

Piper

Piper couldn't stop laughing, even though there was pretty much nothing to be laughing about. The whole thing was just so ridiculous all of a sudden—they were kids of Greek gods—who'd saved the world and defeated the earth herself—and now their personalities were split apart by an entirely too overbearing goddess just so they could "bond".

Ha. Bond. More like you-don't-really-have-a-choice-and-by-the-way-I've-frozen-time-so-you-can't-escape-and-one-more-thing-you'll-lose-your-flaw-forever-if-you-don't-bond— _wait!_ Piper distinctly remembered Hera saying the flaws would be returned to the demigods after they finished bonding. Yet they were still there. In separate bodies.

Piper's mind raced, and her laugh faded from her lips. Subconsciously, she clutched Jason (who was sitting right next to her) by the arm. If the flaws didn't come back—what would happen? Would the demigods be stuck, frozen in time, until they _did_ get the flaws back? Or would Hera send them back into normal time _without_ major parts of their personalities? Or— _stop it, McLean! You've faced giants and mythological monsters—like Drew. You can do this._ Piper felt a sudden rush of confidence in herself, rising and swelling. Without meaning to, her heartbeat settled and her breathing evened out, but her mind was primed and ready. It felt like a million, sassy, vaguely likeable, Pipers had settled in her brain and began directing her on what to do.

 _Tell the others! Confront Hera!_ Piper started to do exactly that, but a thought struck her and she snapped her mouth closed. If not having Fear felt like that… did she even need it? _No! No! N—yes! No! No!_ Piper bit her lip, ignoring Jason's worried glance. Before either could do anything, though, someone else spoke.

"Oh gods—this is bad." Annabeth spoke, not laughing anymore. While her voice was still relatively timid and soft, everyone could her the undisguised, panicked urgency in the daughter of Athena's tone. Pride or no Pride, they still listened to her. But Piper was beginning to wonder… the rest of the group had good ideas too, not just Annabeth. With Pride out of the way, maybe the others would get a chance to make their ideas heard, too…

"What? We're _done_ with all this crappy bonding!" Leo cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Piper felt a stone drop into her gut. It had been bearable when _she'd_ thought it, but hearing it aloud… whole other story. The flaws weren't back. They might never be. And the scariest part of it was that Piper might have preferred that. There was silence, as the fifteen demigods and flaws processed what Leo had said. Piper saw it in their expressions of dawning comprehension, ten their simultaneous looks of panic, horror, anger, and… what was that? Percy had an odd look on his face as he glanced between Loyalty and Annabeth. (Jason looked strange as well, but maybe that was because Piper was cutting off his arm's blood circulation. She smiled slightly and released her grip.) Pandemonium broke out

"Wait—so—we didn't—" Insecurity stuttered, while Frank and Hazel exchanged meaningful glances.

"I don't understand… she said _after_ , so…" Pride stoop up and began pacing thoughtfully.

"This is a load of bull!" Loyalty stood and glared at Hera, slamming his palms against the table. Duty shook his head, but glared too. Piper briefly wondered how much this sucked for the flaws—getting pulled out from a body (ick), needing to re-watch memories, this… She watched intently as Fear, Guilt, Inferiority, and Annabeth huddled together, whispering furiously. Grudge only shrugged slightly. _He doesn't really care, since Nico himself isn't here…_ Hey, maybe that was why Nico wasn't there—Hades, as the lord of the dead, might have figured out that this would happen.

"Did we not bond enough?" Jason asked Piper. She shrugged—she had absolutely no idea. She glanced around, wondering where Leo and Percy had gone off to. Sure enough, Piper spotted them holding a rather loud conversation with Hera, who kept trying to talk but was always cut off by one of them.

Finally, the goddess appeared to get fed up. "Silence!" she roared, and the entire group fell silent, though Piper was sure everyone's thoughts were just as R-rated as hers. What kind of explanation could Hera possibly give? More importantly, was she going to provide an actual _solution_ to the mess? She didn't know if the others remembered, but Piper definitely remembered that it was Hera's fault the flaws had left the demigods in the first place.

"Thank you. Have a seat, everyone." With varying shades of reluctance, those who were standing sat down, scattered throughout the dining pavilion. Hera stood. "Your flaws were supposed to return after you _bond_. I've shown memories, let you rant, let you tell secrets…" _She's talking like she did us a big favor. What a load of crap._

Loyalty snorted, but a glare from Pride and Duty quickly quieted him. Hera continued speaking in a slightly less patronizing tone. "I don't know exactly why your flaws haven't been returned yet. But this process requires that both parties reach an agreement. At that very moment, the painful returning process will begin." _Cut the jargon already!_ Piper wanted to scream. She knew a stalling technique when she heard one. Movie actors and teenagers were the best procrastinators, and she had experience with both. But what if Hera _wasn't_ stalling? Both parties…

Insecurity raised his hand meekly, and the queen of the gods nodded at him. However, Frank was the one that spoke in lieu of his flaw. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, in non-lawyer talk?" he crossed his arms, scowling.

Piper had just enough time to wonder about Frank's new demeanor before Pride responded to him. "It means…" she paused ever-so-slightly. "It means that _both_ the flaw and the demigod have to be willing to join back together. So if that's not happening… well, someone here doesn't agree. And in order for us to join, _everyone_ needs to agree."

Someone didn't agree to reunite he flaws with the other parts of the demigods' personalities? Why would… oh. _Flaws are_ fatal _, duh … I wonder if it's just the flaws that don't want to be reunited, or the demigods. Do_ I _want to have Fear back?_ She thought back to how she'd felt during that sudden surge of confidence. It'd felt great, sure, but not in a healthy or natural way. It was more like the effects of alcohol or something unnatural. After all, there was a reason why humans (half-humans) weren't flawless. Without any fear at all, was Piper even _half_ -human? She tried to imagine a world in which fear was nonexistent.

She couldn't, and so she made her decision. But suddenly, Piper was jolted, rather rudely, from her thoughts as someone began to talk. By then, Piper had already made her choice. Being flawless—it sucked. She wanted Fear back. And ironically, it was just as the last traces of Fear left her that she decided that. Because _with_ Fear, she wouldn't—to put it plainly—been scared to have her flaw back. But since she wasn't fearful… she wanted it. Paradoxical irony.

"I don't want to!" Piper spun around to face the dissenter—who was it? One of the more outspoken flaws—Duty, Loyalty, or Pride? One of the demigods with less-than-great flaws—herself, Frank, Leo, or Hazel? Or maybe even Grudge—no, that wouldn't make sense, since Nico-not-the-flaw wasn't even there in the first place.

It wasn't any one of those. It was Percy.

" _What?!_ " Pride exploded, her face turning red and pale at the same time. "Do you even know how stupid you're being?! Do you _want_ to be stuck here?! Do you _want_ to lose Loyalty—which is a _good_ trait?!" Her voice got progressively higher and higher. But before Percy and her could begin arguing like an elderly couple—

"I don't want my flaw either," the person sitting next to Piper said quietly. Jason. Wait—Jason?!

"What?!" Piper gazed at Jason, not daring to believe it. "Why—Duty isn't a bad thing, it—" _It's actually useful._

"But it's my _flaw_ ," Jason ran his fingers through his hair. "I have way too much of it, and it stresses me out, puts too much pressure on me—even though I'm not praetor anymore. Duty was what made me accept that job to recognize all the gods—do you know how _many_ there are? I'll _die_ doing that! There are thousands upon thousands of unrecognized gods that are on the brink of fading! Gods of every single little useless obsolete thing you can imagine!" Piper tuned out everything else. She'd known what Jason was saying in the back of her mind—how big of a responsibility he'd taken on. But still. "I don't want to spend my life travelling back and forth doing that. All I want is to stay and one place and be _happy_." His voice dipped. "And now I have a chance to be free."

There were so many things wrong with that. He'd made a promise to honor all the gods. A promise was a promise, flaw or not. And the travelling… was he really using that as a reason? (He kind of did have a point…) And the thing that made Piper the angriest and hurt at the same time was that he'd made _not a_ _single mention of her_. At all. Not even when he'd said he wanted to be happy. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Jason was being a selfish jerk. Piper wanted to punch some sense into him; she needed to make him see reason, because Jason just wasn't _Jason_ without his sense of duty. Losing that would be like… Leo without humor. Percy without loyalty. Annabeth without perseverance. It would be like… well, a hero without a flaw.

"Listen to me," Piper kept her voice dangerously even. "You will _not_ disagree with getting your flaw back. You _will_ have Duty, as annoying as he may be. You _will_ listen. Okay?" She leaned her head against the son of Jupiter's shoulder, suddenly feeling cold and tired. But when she felt him nodding almost mechanically, his eyes glazed, she tensed. She'd used charmspeak. She hadn't meant to do that! Panting, she shook him, and his clear blue eyes suddenly seemed to buzz with electricity.

"Did you—"

"Yeah," she admitted. "But seriously, Jason! It's not going to work, and I bet you know that. Holding out isn't going to work." She glanced around, and with some surprise, found that nobody was really paying attention to them.

Several others were arguing with one another, as Hera sat down heavily. Listening while Jason deliberated, she managed to figure out what the heck was going on—apparently, Frank didn't want his flaw either. He and Percy were trying to convince Leo that he shouldn't get Inferiority back, while the two Hazels and Insecurity were adamant on the opposite side. Fear appeared to join Frank and Percy's side. The others were nearby, discussing their own private things.

"Oh, schist," Piper sighed. She rose from her seat, along with an unenthusiastic Jason, and approached the arguing group.

"—seriously? Inferiority's _useless!_ " Frank gestured to the flaw, who only nodded—a slight inclination of his grease-smeared chin—as if he'd accepted that long ago. It wasn't Leo's hesitant look, or Frank's words, or even anything else that made Piper's blood boil, though. It was the fact that Inferiority seemed to _accept_ his so-called uselessness. He accepted it; that wasn't acceptable.

All her life, Piper had chafed against authority. She was a rebel by nature. First it was her father's coworkers—how dare they take away the little, precious time she had with him? Then the stuck-up, bullying snobs in school, and the teachers that turned a blind eye. The gods, even, because what right did they have to turn her life upside-down for their own benefit? And Gaea, for sure. Piper hated being told what to do—being told what she could and couldn't be, what she could and couldn't do, whether she could live or die.

And here was Inferiority, the flaw of her best friend, just standing—well, sitting—there. Taking it. He just took it. _He took it._

Piper must've suddenly gotten a glint in her eye or something, because Jason tried to pull her back. She shrugged him off and continued marching toward the group, intending to give them a piece of her mind. As it turned out, though, Jason needn't have tried. Piper stopped dead in her tracks and stared.

Grudge had somehow managed to slip himself into the middle of the circle, unseen. But now he was the subject of everyone's full, undivided attention. Everyone crept forward, waiting. "You're all being idiots!" he said exasperatedly. His dark eyes shined with a purpose, and he even stood straighter. This wasn't a moody, brooding son of Hades. This was a leader, a powerful warrior, a deadly adversary. The very grass at his feet seemed to shiver.

"What?" Percy groaned. Piper and Grudge both ignored him.

"You realize you can't live without your flaws, crappy as they may be, right? What the hell are you thinking? No, wait, you're freaking _not_. And flaws—" Grudge turned to Fear. "—are you effing serious? Fear. Where's that shit gonna get you? You need the rest of Piper to balance you out. Taking away the damn problem doesn't help. Solving it does… I would know." Though the last part was said in a whisper, Piper heard and remembered the son of Hades' memories of Percy—he'd run from Camp Half-Blood so he would be away from the "problem", Percy. But that hadn't fixed anything (not that his sexuality needed to be fixed). "With a flaw, you'll die."

Well, that was inspirational. (And Piper hadn't known that a person could actually curse that many times and make it seem natural.) Yet, Jason was nodding with a guilty expression.

"Well, _eventually_ , you'll die. But without a flaw, you _won't_ die, because you're not even living. You're not alive if you're flawless. Percy, Jason, Frank, Fear, Leo—damn, you're being stupid. Your reasons for not wanting to go back are freaking _stupid_ and borderline idiotic. Nobody wants a disloyal friend—or an irresponsible one—or a cocky, brash idiot—or an insecure wimp—or an overconfident, swaggering jokester—with them. Hell, I don't care what you _do_ want, but you need to want your entire self. What the hell is hating yourself doing? I've done that shit before."

"It's useless. So dammit, stop it!"

The words echoed—whether throughout the silent camp or in Piper's mind, she didn't know. Despite the cursing and attitude… he made sense. But one by one, the holdouts nodded. Percy looked reluctant; Jason nodded sheepishly; Frank looked conflicted; Fear swallowed audibly; Leo seemed stricken. They nodded. Hera nodded, and Piper nodded, bracing herself for the process that she knew would come next. Because Hera had said that as soon as they agreed, the flaws would be returned. Everybody nodded silently.

(They all looked like bobble-head dolls.)

There was a blinding, golden flash that was so bright that Piper couldn't see and the world was gold and every single thing was gold and everything was just gold. It was all gold, and she felt herself coming back together. And her thoughts whirled and rushed around in the gold.

Everything was golden. Ouch… what was that? She felt a tugging sensation. And then she was sucked into a whirlwind of memories that she'd experienced already, and those she hadn't yet experienced at all. Somehow, instinctively, she understood that she was reliving everything, and pre-living everything else, and that this was the "painful" process Hera had cited. But she remembered something else. She'd been flawless. Flawless. That was perfect. Flaw. That was imperfection. Flawless. Flaw. Less. Less. Flaw. Hey, would you look at that—flawless had _less_ and _flaw_ in it. Less flaw. Flawless equaled less flaws. Flawless. Everything was golden.

 **Thanks for reading! Drop a review if you liked it. I'm thinking that there will be two chapters left in the whole story... sadness.**

 **Next chapter will be updated Thursday-Friday next week, because I have next to no homework after midterms are over (and doing some in class helped too). And happy day-late birthday to Nico!**


	20. Thank Hera, We're Back

**Hi... I'm a day late... In my defense, I really wasn't into this chapter as much, because I have so many ideas for the next (last) chapter in my mind and I can't focus on this one. Whoops. But I did go over this one and I'm _pretty_ sure it makes sense... **

**Also, I don't remember who said this, but someone said the demigods don't seem like they completely understand each other yet. And I kind of agree, though I didn't plan it this way. So that's where this chapter came from.**

 **300 REVIEWS! Thanks to everyone who's ever reviewed this story! And everyone who's read it (a ton of people, judging by the view counters), followed it, or favorited it! I honestly can't believe my story made it this far.**

 **Luna: 300! Thank you so much!/Yeah, I did... I was trying to warn you guys XD/You'll find out about Nico... muwahaha.../(only slightly stalkerish. Don't worry, I sound very stalkerish in person :P) Projects? Sounds really cool. Heck of a lot better than a bunch of tests, anyway. But I did get an A for math, so not bad :) Thanks! I had fun writing in Piper's POV.**

 **awesomeninja09: Oh yeah? Well... I'm quadruple divergent, so ha! And, uh... I'll just jump out of the way of Avada Kedavra, then! AND I SHALL LIVE FOREVER. The element of surprise is my favorite element!**

 **BlueOrangeJuice: I LOVE YOUR USER (NOT REALLY USER) AND THANK YOU SO MUCH AND NICE CAPS LOCK AND... I have no idea what the plural of series is. Just series? No idea. And enthusiasm is fine, because IT WAS NICO'S (admittedly, unconfirmed) BIRTHDAY!**

 **MaxHomlet: Oh, wow. That quote... thanks! I might use it, and I'll credit you if I do.**

 **OwlGirl2000 (I know right?), jk just Keegan: Thanks!**

 **Guest: All of them will! I'm not _that_ cruel...**

 **SuzuBells: Yep! It was actually pretty fun to write that bit at the end. And it seemed very OOC if I didn't have Piper try to do something. Will they remember- perhaps... you'll find out :) Will I keep writing awesome stories- I'm flattered, and I wouldn't dream of _not_ doing that! Thanks for your reviews, they really brighten my day!**

 **Dorian Havilliard: I personally like ID/FOB slightly better, but P!ATD are amazing too. My fanfic is getting so mature... *sniff* It already has a son!**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: I wonder if Nico got a blue cake courtesy of Sally :) And, well, they are kinda crazy without a flaw... did you notice who I chose to pick _not_ wanting a flaw? I spent HOURS (minutes, more like) deciding! XD I wanna get me a dam T-shirt! *helps you up, but then lets go* Whoopsies! :)**

 **Geek Without Glasses: Thanks! And yes, he will. See the announcement at the bottom A/N.**

Frank

Frank was going to throw up, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Bright, flashing spots that looked suspiciously like Hazel's golden eyes danced in front of his vision, making it hard—no, near impossible—to see. (Not that there was anything _to_ see.) Everything was divine, golden. Briefly, Frank wondered if Hera had shown her divine form. Any moment, he expected to be vaporized and reappear in the Underworld, being judged by the dead. Frank could imagine everything then— _Praetor, son of Mars, Gets Blasted to Bits by Hera!_ Awesome headline for New Rome's newspaper.

Wait. Frank's mind reacted sluggishly—he could feel his eyelids fluttering. He wasn't dead.

Trying to blink, the son of Mars wondered where the heck he was. He wasn't standing. Somehow, he'd collapsed flat on his back, with his head lolling to the right after he'd been sucked into a tunnel of golden light. There was grass beneath him, but he couldn't tell much else without his sight. The little slits of light he _did_ have we obscured by the afterimage of the light. _Where am I?! Did Hera mess up somehow? I swear, if she pulled another stupid stunt…_

The golden light suddenly cleared from Frank's eyes. He expected it to be soothing, but apparently the Fates had decided to make his life as hard as possible. It hurt. A lot. It—it was like being burned; at first, nothing, but then—all at once— _ow!_ And then after the burnt body part was pulled away, it throbbed painfully. Not that he was going to pull his _eyes_ away… Frank somehow managed to lift his arms, rubbing at his eyes with vigorous movements. The searing pain was clawing its way through his body, not just his eyes, not giving him a chance to recover before sending a fresh jolt of hurt at him. But somehow, it felt different. It wasn't burning pain; instead, it felt more like a stinging prick of a needle.

And then, just as suddenly as it had come, it was gone. Frank tried to open his eyes, but a vision danced on the inside of his eyelids before he could do so. It was gold, with blurry images like those of an Iris-message. It felt… unsettling, to say the least. The praetor felt a familiar, yet strange, sensation in the pit of his stomach. What was going on? Why couldn't he open his eyes?! _Wait a second. I'm… panicking._ So what? That's not— _Good. I have my flaw back! I have Insecurity!_ He tried to grin, but his face hurt. And he still had no idea about what was happening.

 _Don't worry, hero._ Hera? The voice echoed inside his mind. _You are safe. The flaw has been returned, yes, but the process hasn't yet been completed fully._ The process… the "painful" one? _I'm afraid so. Are you ready?_ No. _This is the first part._ And everything went crazy. Frank had already done enough bonding—enough with it all! _I'll take that as a yes,_ Hera said smoothly. And then the gold was the only color Frank could see. Gold.

Everything was in some shade of gold, but he recognized Hazel and Percy battling alongside himself in Alaska. And there was Annabeth discussing Chinese handcuffs with him, and Piper grinning ferociously as she fought, and Jason helping Frank practice a sword-thrusting technique, and Nico, talking to Frank at New Rome, though he ignored everyone else but Hazel, and there was Leo, grinning playfully as he teased Frank, but without malice. Frank hurtled though a tunnel of memories—both his and others'.

And then it got really weird, as if it wasn't already. There were Annabeth and Percy… bleeding. Lying there. Dead. But then there were those same two, beaming happily as they got married. Frank was one of the groomsmen, and the others were all there. Except Leo. And then there was Nico clutching a picture of Hazel and crying, an anguished howl that rattled Frank's nerves. But then there was Piper, laughing with Jason as they laced their fingers together— and Jason, begging Reyna to forgive him, and Jason, marrying Reyna— _what?!_ Yet there Reyna was, slinging a sisterly arm over Nico, who laughed— _laughed_ —with Leo, who seemed a lot older but still as impish as ever. And then Hazel was there, gazing adoringly at a buff, Asian man—Frank? Was that… him? But the next vision showed that same man, with tearstained cheeks, sobbing as he knelt before a fire, lit up by burning shrouds. And an older Piper screamed as a small stick of firewood fell into that fire… and then the gold was gone.

* * *

Frank tried to open his eyes once more, but they felt heavy as weights. Gradually, he became aware that there was a thrumming in the back of his head, and people were scrambling around him. Who was it? _Ow…_ his head really hurt. Like he'd been hit with a brick. (But that was Jason's job, right?)

"—from the Roman camp?" a concerned male voice said, and Frank felt a cool hand touch his forehead. Then the hand moved away. "This is the praetor, right? Frank?" he continued.

 _Yeah, that's me!_ Frank wanted to sit up and say. But something was off. Who was this guy? He tried to muster up the energy to speak, but found himself losing consciousness again. "… Can't imagine how he got here. The rest of the Seven and that son of Hades flashed here too… strange things…" a female voice sounded puzzled, slowly fading away. "Bring… infirmary…"

 _No, I'm fine…_ Well, that was rather a moot point, considering that Frank was rapidly approaching unconsciousness—what? No! He had to stay awake… what _were_ those images? Glimpses of possible futures? Ugh. He wanted to sleep. He didn't understand—where were the others? Who were those people? What had happened right before the gold flash? Why— Frank didn't get to ask any more mental questions, as he soon descended into the realm of Hypnos. But of course, it couldn't be a _normal_ sleep, oh no. (Now he didn't want to sleep.)

Stupid demigod dreams.

Frank stood in a painfully bright, sterilized white room. It was utterly generic, and completely featureless, to boot. The only thing remotely interesting about it was that… well, that there _wasn't_ anything interesting about it. To be quite honest, it was about as exciting as one of Annabeth's (well-meaning, but _boring_ ) lectures on architecture. Even his grandmother's (smashed) china collection was more attention-grabbing.

At least, it was boring until Frank noticed seven other figures in the room, all separated from each other by a little bit of space. Frank furrowed his brow. That was weird, even for a demigod's dream. And oddly enough, he could actually move. And… were those the rest of the Seven and Nico? Where were their flaws—oh, right.

It had worked! Frank was almost embarrassed for not having remembered it before. Everything added up—the unfamiliar voices, the discussion about where Frank and the others had come from (since Frank had originally been at Camp Jupiter), the absence of the rest of his friends. So Hera had basically unfrozen time, and the flaws had rejoined the demigods. But of course, there'd been a catch. _A painful process…_ and then, during the unsettling glimpse into the future, she'd told Frank that it had only been the first part of the process, implying that there was a _second_ part to it. So _this_ was the second part… anyway…

Frank was extremely glad. He hadn't felt like himself without Insecurity. It had been… scary? Wonderful? Relaxing? Nerve-wracking? All? Without his flaw, he could do anything, be anything—without any reservations. That was amazing, yes, but also very dangerous. Now, Frank recognized that. He hadn't before—in fact, he'd even opposed joining back together with his flaw. He felt his face begin to warm. He'd even tried to convince Leo to not join back together with his flaw, for Mars' sake! Not very smart of him. He had to see the big picture.

But without Insecurity, he'd lacked the very _ability_ to do that. He'd only agreed to reunite with his flaw after Grudge (the flaw had looked as if he'd like to brutally injure him) had knocked some sense into him. Having his flaw… his _fatal_ flaw… that was, well, fatal. But _not_ having his flaw was equally deadly. Frank knew there was a word for that sort of thing—irony? Oxymoron? Paradox?—but he couldn't remember it. Oh well.

Shaking himself out of his temporary stupor, Frank glanced around the room more curiously, and saw Hazel, Percy, Piper, and Nico on one side of the room;Annabeth, Leo, Jason, and himself were on the other. The funny thing was that none of them seemed to notice the others' presence, other than Frank, of course. And their faces—their bodies, even, were wispy, like steam or smoke. They weren't transparent, exactly, but just… blurry. Suddenly, a thought struck Frank. He looked down.

Sure enough, he was wispy too.

And then, lower murmurs filled the blank white room, though Frank kept staring at his… blurry… form. "Pressure… Reyna… _Piper_ … Greeks and Romans… the gods' shrines… beat Percy… giving leadership… Frank…" Frank started and glanced up at the sound of his name, looking around to find the source. Were one of the blurry demigods talking? It was Jason. He was really… blurry. Like a hologram or something. If Frank stared at one part of him for too long, it began to fade away, yet he seemed solid enough.

"Everyone expects me to be the perfect leader, a good fighter, a role model, an _example_! What if I don't want to do that?! What if I just want to relax? Let loose?" Jason continued his tirade, anger radiating off of him. Frank shifted uncomfortably; this was personal—very. It was like Jason's inner thoughts. "But I can't! I just can't! It's so hard, and I just have to keep on going, to be that perfect leader! I want to just _live._ That's literally all I ever wanted." Blurry-Jason coughed hoarsely. Suddenly, Frank felt terrible. Because he'd never really bothered to get to know the guy. He'd just assumed things. Jason—he just wanted to be normal, but he couldn't. Neither could Frank. None of them could. Saviors of the world or not, they were just teenagers, really.

Teenagers who had seriously weird dreams. Frank knitted his eyebrows together; what was going on in this dream? It seemed like the demigods had their flaws back, _finally_ , but then… the visions. The dream. The voices.

Another voice startled the son of Mars. It was Leo, whose face was indistinct as well. "Sorry, _mama_ , sorry, everyone… I'm sorry that I'm not a hero. For gods' sakes, I sent our most important members to Tartarus! I put everyone in danger!" Not true. Leo had saved Frank's and Hazel's lives by using that fortune cookie, and it wasn't his fault anyway. And he was the bravest person Frank knew—he'd gone through so much crap and still managed to smile. "I'm a jerk! To Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper, everyone…" He _had_ been a jerk to Frank. But… "I'm a _useless seventh wheel_!" No, no. He wasn't! Never. He was an amazing genius who was pretty freaking awesome, even if he did have his faults. Whatever else Leo was, he wasn't useless. If anyone was, it was… _no, stop it, Zhang._ Frank watched as blurry-Leo glided to one of the blindingly white walls. And suddenly, someone else spoke.

"When I want to cry, I do it alone. It's hard." Frank got the feeling she was talking about more than just crying. "I don't _want_ to be alone, but I _choose_ to, because how else can I get anything done? And my stupid pride landed Percy in T-Tartarus with me… g-gods…" Blurry-Annabeth choked. _No, you're not alone. You don't have to do everything. We can help._ "I… why couldn't I have been a mortal?! That would've been so much easier!" But then the demigods would be in big trouble. They needed Annabeth.

Frank had no idea what was going on, but he knew it was important. So he stepped closer as blurry-Nico began to speak. "Everybody leaves me eventually. So why even bother making friends? Oh, forget it. I haven't _got_ any. I'm just the son of Hades; the son of death. No one wants me around. Gods. I'm a freak." Frank blinked. Furiously. But some disobedient liquid leaked out of his eyes, and he felt the urge to go and hug Nico. He only stopped because he instinctively knew that wouldn't do anything—wait.

Frank's mouth suddenly felt very dry. These things, what they were saying—were their worst nightmares, their deepest insecurities, their darkest fears. It wasn't really _them_ saying it, but it was true all the same. Those simple words… Frank was stunned. He knew all this about the others. Wow.

"Everyone else is more useful than me. I'm just a pretty face, an unreliable one at that. I'm too emotional…" The blurred figure of Piper said softly. "I don't trust myself, I don't trust my instincts, I don't—I just—I don't. I got the ship blasted off course, I got everyone frozen. I don't do anything." Not true! Frank wanted to scream. _Your fears are normal—they're good, they can help you, just let them!_ "I'm scared." They all were, probably. Frank smiled without humor.

"I'm too changeable, too fluid, too set, and too solid. _Different._ I never wanted to be a demigod, but here I am! One day, my loyalty's gonna be fatal—for others, not just me. But loyalty—ha. I haven't got any! Explain about… Bob, Damasen, Silena, Beckendorf, Zoe, Bianca… _why?!_ " Percy's voice was filled with so much anguish Frank just wanted to go hug him. Percy—was—awesome. "Bob… I said hello for you." Frank pinched himself. He wanted to wake up, to not learn all these things, to not know. Sometimes, that was better. What was that saying? Right, ignorance was bliss.

Another voice joined in. Hazel… "Nico shouldn't have taken me out of the Underworld. I killed so many. I'm cursed. Diamonds and rings are nothing. My first life, I killed a lot. Raised a giant. My second, I still am. And I caused so much pain. For everyone. Schist, I don't deserve Frank." No, Frank didn't deserve _her_. "I didn't deserve Sammy or this second chance, either. I'm sorry for everything I've done."

Silence. And then, as one, the seven others turned to Frank. For the first time, there was a flicker of something alive in their eyes—and they were solid. Slowly, it dawned on Frank. It was his turn, and his friends were listening.

"I…" he faltered, then took a breath. If they could do it, so could he. "I—I'm really self-conscious. Compared to you guys, I'm a complete clown." The words flowed out of him more smoothly, like they'd just been waiting to be said. Maybe they were. "I honestly don't know why I was part of the prophecy. I'm a clumsy doofus. Gods, I can barely get anything right!" Then he paused. It wasn't true. Not anymore.

A sudden, shockingly blinding flash of pure gold light enveloped him, and everyone else too. When it cleared, Frank found himself lying on an infirmary bed. He sat up and glanced around—the others were sitting up on adjoining beds. Solid. No flaws. Just them.

"WE'RE BACK!" he leaped up and tackled them with a giant group hug, dragging even a confused-looking Nico in. They were back. Finally, they were back.

"What—Nico, you shouldn't be up—neither should you guys—" a tanned, blond guy who was probably a son of Apollo rushed over, but Frank ignored him. He hugged everyone even harder. They really were back.

Thank the gods— and Frank never thought he'd say this, but—thank Hera.

 **Did I spell Damasen wrong? I think I might have... whoops. And that son of Apollo was Will :)**

 **Anyway, some things: Nico WILL be making an appearance in this fic. In fact, guess whose POV you'll be getting in the next chapter? Will he remember? Frank and the others do, but only Grudge was there... hmm... you'll just have to find out.**

 **Also, the chapter formats: Each member of the Seven got 3 chapters in their POV, except for Percy. I'm sorry Percy, but Nico will get your chapter. So this story will have 21 chapters, which means it's almost over. Wow. I can't believe it.**

 **The final chapter shall be posted on Friday next week, and I promise I'll post it then! But in the reviews/or if you want to PM me, tell me what kind of story you want me to write next, because sadly this is ending. I have a few ideas... do you guys like AUs? What kinds? Stories that fit into canon? Collection of one-shots? A specific ship? I'll make a poll to put on my profile after this story is finished, based on what you guys say, and you guys can vote/review next chapter to pick. Thank you all for bearing with me through this insanely long A/N!**

 **See you next week!**


	21. Flawed Heroes Are The Best Ones

**Hey, guys! Thank you all so much for sticking with me!**

 **SuzuBells: Yes, that's a great way to describe it! Now I'll pretend that's exactly how I described it earlier.. Oh, sorry. I stole him away for this story :) Thank you so much for your awesome reviews!**

 **CrazyBlueOwl: Um... yeah. Nice I really love run on sentences too but I don't want to put it in caps because this is in bold and bold caps hurt my eyes mm what else can I put here oh yeah THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS! (::) whoops I typed in all caps oh well :)**

 **awesomeninja09: I don't even know what to say. THAT WHOLE REVIEW MADE MY DAY (well, I read it at night, but whatever)! THANKS SO SO SO SO SO MUCH (but I'll still murder you :)) And Flawless Heroes... ha. Ha. But no spoilers -.- And I WILL read that mile-long review!**

 **Luna: Cool! Sadly my birthday isn't any of theirs. But who knows, Rick may release more birthdays... I don't know, depends on the specific project, I guess. And wow, thanks! I love reading your reviews, they make me smile/laugh/both every time! I love drama/suspense XD Read this chapter for some implied Solangelo ;) And as for Cassandra Clare... I'm going to start reading them! They're at the top of my rather long to be read list.**

 **BlueOrangeJuice: Aww, thanks :) Here, have some of my blue cookies and blue orange juice (How does that work? Shouldn't it be called blue juice then? But that sounds weird... you know what, I'm going to stop now too.)!**

 **jk just Keegan, Luna Freedom: Thanks so much!**

 **OwlGirl2000: That means a lot to me. I haven't read a fanfiction like that, but I have read actual books like that, so thanks for the suggestion!**

 **Guest: yeah, I procrastinate a lot, so giving you guys a date helps me write without procrastinating _too_ much. Thanks for reviewing, "that person that reviews a lot but still has no name!...yet"**

Nico

Nico regretted his decision to sleep in. Because come on, it was kind of embarrassing to have fallen asleep in his bed in the Hades cabin and to wake up in the infirmary. It was even more embarrassing to wake up with _no clue_ as to why he was being hugged by Frank—wait, what? Frank? How had Frank gotten there? Wasn't he supposed to be at the Roman camp? And… was that Hazel? Huh? And the rest of the Seven were there too… come to think of it, Nico was _pretty_ sure they weren't all supposed to be in the infirmary, hugging the son of death to death. What had happened? Had he been fighting a monster or something? He couldn't remember.

"You guys shouldn't be up—" Will Solace rushed over to the sterile white bed, Kayla, his half-sister, behind him. Nico noticed that the son of Apollo looked pretty cute in his— _shut up, focus!_ Averting his gaze, Nico noticed that seven beds were empty between him and the next patient (Clarisse, who'd somehow managed to break her arm _twice_ in a week)—so the Seven hadn't just been visiting Nico. They were patients too. Why were they all there, though?

"What are you even doing here?" Kayla voiced his thoughts, staring pointedly at the Roman demigods. "You just appeared out of nowhere, lying on the ground! We brought you here… Frank, you're pretty heavy…. Hey, Nico, what are _you_ doing here? I don't remember bringing you in…"

Weird. The whole situation—just weird. And that was coming from a kid of a Greek god.

Nico's breath came in gasps; he was still being choked by the son of Mars. Until suddenly, he wasn't. The giant group hug slowly dissolved, identical expressions of confusion over everyone's faces. "Wait… Nico just appeared? Not with _us_?" Annabeth asked, an unreadable expression on her face, glancing at the rest of the Seven. The Seven regarded each other warily, seemingly perplexed. For some reason, that irked Nico. A lot.

" _Nico_ is right here, you know," he coughed loudly, crossing his arms. They ignored him, which didn't exactly add to his mood. Appearing in the infirmary mysteriously, fine. Being hugged? Somewhat tolerable. Keeping secrets and ignoring him, no way.

"Why would he appear with you?" Will looked genuinely bemused. Then, a grin spread over his face as he glanced at Nico. "Hey, did you sneak in here to help me—"

"No, shut up, Solace!" Nico snapped. "What's wrong with you all? What the hell's going on?" he stared expectantly at the seven demigods. As one, they turned to each other and whispered amongst themselves, though Nico noticed that they seemed kind of distant. Nico caught a few phrases— _remember, use charmspeak or something, tell him later,_ but they didn't make much sense. A few moments later, they turned back to face Nico and the healers.

"Okay, so this might be a bit hard to believe, but we were on a quest for Hera," Piper started. She held up a hand to stop Will from interrupting, and Nico snorted. How typical. Hera poking her (admittedly godly) nose into other people's lives. How _rare!_ How _absolutely delightful!_ Although, Nico couldn't say he was surprised. It was, what, five or six months since they'd defeated Gaea? Obviously, that was _way_ too long to give the demigods a break. "She kind of… well, stopped time and got all eight of us from our camps to join to complete the quest." _Eight? I don't remember any quest…_ Nico didn't fail to notice how subtle charmspeak laced Piper's words. "The quest itself is, um, secret. But don't worry, the quest hasn't got anything to do with the end of the world this time." More charmspeak washed over Nico, though he resisted it. However, Will and Kayla already had a glazed look in their eyes. Why was Piper using charmspeak? And a quest involving the Seven (arguably some of the most powerful demigods in history) that was "secret"? Sounded fishy.

"When we finished, Hera resumed time and sent us all here." Jason took over, though his blue eyes darted around, shrugging. "And I guess she thought it was a good idea to knock us out." Nico raised an eyebrow as Jason smiled wryly. Something was definitely off. Everyone was acting weirdly. Charmspeak. Appearing randomly. How they seemed to expect Nico to remember something. The awkwardness between the normally close-knit demigods. And that "quest", too.

Nico felt like all the pieces to a ridiculously easy puzzle were laid out in front of him, but he just couldn't see the solution. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, the son of Hades saw Hazel wearing a disoriented expression as she slowly stared at each of her friends in turn, like she'd never seen them before in her life. Considering that they were basically the reason she _had_ a second life… yeah, it seemed a tad bit strange. Something stranger? _All_ of them acted like that, and with varying levels of pity, guilt, and surprise as well.

He was jolted out of his musings by Piper. "Oh, and _Nico appeared with us._ " Will nodded listlessly, under the effects of the daughter of Aphrodite's charmspeak. (Despite himself, Nico had to admit that he was impressed by her power, though he wondered why she felt the need to emphasize that. He assumed they would explain once they got rid of the children of Apollo.)

"You guys can all go. You're fine." The healers promptly turned on their heels and walked away, attending to Clarisse, who was yelling in the background about how she needed to be healed, stat, so she could fight some "little punk" who'd apparently disrespected her cabin. Before Nico could do or say anything more, he felt a strong, muscled hand grab his wrist. Slowly, the son of Hades' dark eyes looked up and met Percy's green ones.

"Nico, that wasn't the whole truth, as you probably guessed…" Nico wrenched his arm out of Percy's grip. He didn't want the guy anywhere near him. He'd caused Bianca' death, for gods' sakes! He'd taken Bianca away, and then killed her! Bianca, Nico's sister! Bianca, the only one who really accepted Nico! And not only that, but he—he… wait. Why was Nico thinking like that? He was over Percy. Right? And it'd been so long since he'd thought of Bianca in a sad or angry mood, never mind blame Percy for her death. Something really was off. Those puzzle pieces… somehow, they had something to do with Nico.

Suddenly, he realized that Percy had grabbed his arm again and had been leading him towards the Poseidon cabin. There were only a few campers around; most were at their post-breakfast activities. So nobody was there to see the odd group of eight demigods march towards the empty cabin, presumably for Percy to explain to Nico _what the hell was going on._ They, along with the rest of the Seven, now stood outside Cabin 3. Although he was internally flinching for some reason, Nico allowed Percy to herd him into the cabin. The others followed suit, and Nico sank down onto a bunk bed. Leo plopped down as well, but a slight distance away from the others (everyone but Percy) who sat there as well. Percy remained standing.

"Okay, since you don't remember, I guess you deserve an explanation…" Percy trailed off, and shifted nervously. He cleared his throat and tried to meet Nico's eyes, but his own darted all around. Hey, come to think of it, everyone seemed… nervous? Tense? No, the word was… uncomfortable, like they were all strangers discussing the weather or something. But that wasn't right—not at all. In fact, after the initial celebration at the infirmary ("We're back!"?), they'd all been avoiding each other's gazes. They seemed wary of one another, or apprehensive, even.

Weird.

"Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth prompted Percy, leaning against a bed post. Nico managed not to feel too jealous of the gentle tone she used with her boyfriend, and actually succeeded. _It's not his fault; he feels really guilty._ Nico blinked. How in Hades had he known that?

"Oh, right," Percy grinned sheepishly, but it wasn't fully genuine. His mouth curled up just a bit too much, and his eyes didn't change expression at all. In an awkward silence, he began to explain—finally. The rest of the Seven chimed in too, adding to the… story. Gradually, their postures relaxed and their muscles loosened.

At first, Nico didn't believe it. But then he did, because what Percy and the others were describing sounded exactly like the kind of ridiculously humanitarian scheme the so-called goddess of family would come up with. And for another thing, everything was too vivid, too detailed, too _elaborate_ to have been made up. And Nico sort of— _sort of—_ remembered some things. But—the flaws. Nico knew his was holding grudges, and he also knew Percy and Annabeth's. But the rest? Wow.

Duty for Jason—it made sense, but it was hard to believe the type of behavior Duty had apparently been exhibiting. Fear for Piper—surprising, but not overly so. Nico didn't really know the daughter of Aphrodite that well, though. (He'd actually gone out of his way to avoid her—she was _Aphrodite_ 's kid, after all.) Insecurity for Frank—not that surprising, either, but Nico thought that that would've changed after the praetor's transformation in Rome. Inferiority for Leo—what?! It made no sense; but at the same time, it did. It actually explained a lot of things. Leo's humor—he was overcompensating for his flaw. Kind of like Nico, but Nico just became withdrawn instead of more outgoing. Huh. And Hazel's Guilt… he felt for her, he really did. Blaming others (grudges) was honestly a heck of a lot easier than blaming _yourself_ —guilt. That wasn't to say that Nico didn't have guilt towards certain things or that Hazel didn't have grudges towards others, though.

And the memory-watching. Percy and the others didn't go into full detail there (all of them looked extremely uncomfortable), but… strangely, as they briefly skimmed over some memories, Nico felt a vague sense of déjà vu. But it wasn't until the son of Poseidon described Nico's/Grudge's memories that he remembered.

He _remembered._

He remembered the feelings of pain, of shame, of loneliness, of anger. He remembered horror, and aching sadness, and crushing agony. But he also remembered little sparks of joy, fleeting moments of pure happiness, soothing bits of laughter.

He remembered Cupid, Bianca, Percy. He remembered the men in Italy, Akhlys, Tartarus. _Everything._ And he didn't just remember his own memories—he remembered all of them—everything. And he remembered the secrets and rants and the visions and the dream, too.

He remembered Jason's duty—Annabeth's pride—Hazel's guilt—Frank's insecurity—Percy's loyalty—Leo's inferiority—Piper's fear—his own grudge. But most of all, he remembered who they were _without_ those flaws. Duty-free Jason was disconcerting; pride-less Annabeth was downright scary to see. Guilt-free Hazel was horrifying; Insecurity-less Frank was terrifying. Loyalty-less Percy was impossible; inferiority-less Leo was sad and just a jerk. Fear-less Piper was way too over the top.

But what if he, Nico, had been there too, not just his flaw? What would he have been like without any grudges? He didn't know. But on second thought, maybe he did know. He wouldn't be himself. That was the crux of the matter. That was what Hera—purposefully or not, Nico didn't know—had let them learn. It was the whole point of having flaws.

For a brief, brief moment, he understood. Flaws weren't really flaws, they were just parts of them that could potentially be deadly. They _needed_ flaws, like the gods needed them. Flaws were what kept them anchored. They weren't good, but not bad either. They were impossible to categorize. The whole concept of fatal flaws? A paradox.

He understood, but then that short moment of enlightenment left Nico. All that was left was a feeling growing and growing inside him. He didn't understand it.

"Nico?" Hazel's worried voice broke into his thoughts. "Are you okay?" Nico smiled and looked up. That smile slowly broadened into a grin.

That was right, the Ghost King himself _grinned_. Because Hazel was worried. And not just her. Everyone. They were all united. Hell, they'd had literal split personalities and managed not to decapitate each other. That was a pretty damn good achievement. Percy leaned forward, a concerned expression on his features. Frank seemed worried as well, like he thought that they'd accidently pushed Nico over the edge or something. Jason whispered something to Annabeth, who nodded; they both stared intently at the son of Hades. Eerily, they looked like siblings. Leo and Piper seemed a bit more wary, but they, too, held Nico's gaze. His smile stayed.

Because, in other words, his friends— _friends_ —were back.

And then, suddenly, he was being hugged from all directions. Again. He nearly fell off the bed. The bed wasn't big enough, and so Leo toppled over, but climbed back up, grinning crazily. He held out a hand to Piper, who pressed a dollar into his hand, rolling her eyes.

"Told you he would remember!" the son of Hephaestus crowed. _They bet on it?!_ Jason laughed and squeezed Nico tighter, while trying to put his arm around Piper simultaneously. Percy smiled mischievously and tugged Annabeth to the side. And then, a moment later, they attacked.

With tickling. Within a minute, Nico was laughing so hard he felt like his stomach was going to burst. "Stop—stop—stop tick—argh!" he tried to fend them off, not really succeeding. But they only stopped when he was in a state of half-hysterics, and proceeded to start a pillow fight with each other, including some makeout sessions that didn't make Nico feel uncomfortable. For once. Hazel buried her face into his neck.

"I'm glad you're okay," she whispered. And Frank? Well, the guy really liked hugs. Nico felt like he couldn't breathe—or maybe he was just laughing too hard. (If anyone asked, it was from being tickled.)

If that scene had been a movie, epic crescendo-ing music would have swelled just then. As it was, the Stolls were actually playing "We Are the Champions" somewhere in the distance, probably after pranking the Demeter cabin for the fourteenth time that week (they'd taken to playing the song so that running away from the wrath of Katie seemed more dignified).

And then Will Solace's voice drifted over. "Chiron wants his CD player back, Travis! Nico, where the Hades are you? I need you to help in the infirmary, remember?" Maybe, just maybe, Nico smiled a bit bigger. But only maybe.

* * *

Nothing much changed in camp. The Stolls got dishwashing duty for a month. Leo fixed Piper's defective closet (strange…). Will got Nico's case about visiting him in the infirmary. Dionysus rolled his eyes at the demigods' explanation of Hera's "quest", but Nico could've sworn that the god regarded them differently after that—with some more respect?

Actually, scratch that. Some things did change.

The demigods let the flaws do what they needed to do, but kept them in check.

They made sure Jason didn't feel as pressured, but also told him that his duty wasn't something to be ashamed of.

They let Annabeth know she could rely on them, and take a break when she needed to—anytime.

They helped Hazel deal with her past, and nudged her on the path to accepting her own deeds.

They showed Frank just how important he was, and supported him in anything he undertook.

They told Percy that nothing he'd ever done was in vain, and that he'd done the best things he could.

They never, ever, _ever_ took Leo for granted, and made sure he always felt like he belonged.

They didn't ever dismiss emotions and the power of instincts, so that Piper would feel comfortable.

And for Nico? All he knew was that they respected what he wanted, but that they were always there when he needed them, whether he _wanted_ them or not.

Because even if they were heroes, they were flawed. But maybe the best kinds of heroes were the flawed ones. Nico liked the sound of that.

And as he sat on the beach, water lapping at his feet as the Seven, Reyna, and Will sat around him, laughing and enjoying themselves at the Argo II's monthly reunion party, he smiled. Why? Hey, couldn't a guy just smile for no reason?

Actually, there was a reason.

Everyone, even heroes, were flawed.

* * *

 _ **Fin.**_

* * *

 **Thank you all so so so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, or following. Or all, or some. It means a _lot_. A ton. Please review, even if you've never done it before. Because, hey, it's the last chapter :)**

 **In a few days, I'll be making a poll on my profile and you guys can vote on what type of story you want me to write next! And I'm also developing my own story idea, which is cool :)**

 **Thank you guys again!**


	22. Not An Update, But Read Anyway!

**Hey guys! This isn't an update (the story's finished).**

 **Just letting you all know how much I appreciate the awesome feedback you've left me, and to announce that I posted the poll on my profile yesterday!**

 **GUESTS (Luna asked): You can't vote on the poll, unfortunately. But if you really want to, you can post a review saying which (up to two) options you want.**

 **IF YOU HAVE NO PREFERENCE FOR THOSE CHOICES: Don't skew up the results by voting. Just don't vote. :)**

 **Please go check it out on my profile. Thanks! (::) Calefe out.**


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